The annual NFL owners’ meetings continued in Palm Beach, Florida, Tuesday and 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan found himself surrounded by reporters to start the day.
For the second straight year, it appears the quarterback situation in Santa Clara will be discussed ad nauseam. Jimmy Garoppolo remains on the 49ers roster after undergoing shoulder surgery on March 8, which general manager John Lynch conceded hurt the team’s chances to deal him.
Shanahan discussed the situation from his perspective Tuesday and said the team is prepared to let Trey Lance take over the offense in his second season this fall.
“That’s why we looked into trading Jimmy, because we obviously believe that Trey can be a starter,” Shanahan said, via NBC Sports Bay Area. “We’re ready to do that. If we can’t upgrade our team in another way, we’re not just going to get rid of a quarterback because we have other good quarterbacks on the roster. Quarterbacks are really hard to come by. Some teams don’t have any at all. The fact that we have three we’re happy with, that is a good thing.”
While Shanahan’s statement makes sense on its face, you also have to consider the $26.9 million salary Garoppolo is lugging around and how that affected the team’s opportunities to lure free agents or secure extensions for Deebo Samuel or Nick Bosa. The 49ers can shave $25.5 million from their salary cap by trading or releasing Garoppolo this offseason.
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There’s still four weeks until the NFL Draft and four months until training camp, but it appears increasingly likely that Garoppolo could be with the team in Week 1. Shanahan, however, hinted that the 49ers could make a deal once Garoppolo returns to throwing activities in late June or July.
“Jimmy’s done a great job for us,” Shanahan said. “We brought Trey here to be that eventually. I think that’ll be sooner than later. Jimmy gets his surgery and you can’t upgrade your teams by getting good picks until the surgery, people feel good about that. I’m all right with that. We’re not going to get rid of him just to get rid of him. He’s a good player that we really like as a person and as a teammate. We’re gonna wait to see whatever helps the Niners the most.”
So, has Shanahan thought about a potential quarterback controversy in training camp between Garoppolo and Lance?
“Definitely haven’t got that far,” Shanahan said. “We’ll figure it out and it’ll be something. He’d be on our team. Jimmy’s a good quarterback. It’s not easy for anyone to beat out. Trey wasn’t ready to beat him out last year. He’ll definitely be closer to that if it happens, but it’s something we don’t have to worry about until training camp. Usually when you have a situation like that it makes everyone better anyways.”
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