As of Wednesday afternoon, 49ers general manager John Lynch was yet to speak to quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo about his reported upcoming shoulder surgery. Many eyebrows were raised once Adam Schefter reported the news Tuesday, as Garoppolo is on the trading block this offseason.
From the sounds of his comments at the NFL Combine on Wednesday, Lynch is operating under the notion that Garoppolo will undergo surgery. Lynch said that Garoppolo initially was going to try to rehab his way through the injury, but must have received a recent medical opinion that recommended surgery.
“Any time you have surgery, it’s not a minor deal,” Lynch said, via the 49ers YouTube channel. “Any time it’s a throwing a shoulder, I understand the significance. But it is described as a minor surgery. Jimmy’s going to be fine. As for the trade – Jimmy’s a part of us right now. A lot of people need or want quarterbacks right now and he’s obviously a guy they’d look at. Yes, we have listened, but he’s a part of us and he’s going to work diligently to get back from this surgery. It’s preliminary, I haven’t even talked to Jimmy yet, but it sounds like that’s the decision right now.”
As far as Lynch knows, Garoppolo will be able to throw again in late June or early July. Jimmy G hurt his shoulder on an awkward fall in the Wild Card game against the Dallas Cowboys, when he was trying to avoid landing on his injured right thumb.
Despite the fact Garoppolo might be damaged goods in the coming weeks, it sounds like Lynch has no worries about finding a possible suitor. Garoppolo bid adieu to the 49ers Faithful after the team bowed out in the NFC Championship, so he left Santa Clara expecting to get dealt this offseason.
“There’s always Plan A, Plan B and Plan C,” Lynch said. “We plan for all of that accordingly. Jimmy – he’s a big part of what we’ve done. Like I said, he’s still a part of us. Until that changes, we feel blessed that he is. Right now, when we talk about his shoulder, I’m worried about that for the Niners and for Jimmy. As far as anything else, like I said, we have had some discussions with teams and will continue to.”
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Garoppolo’s teammates lauded him for his toughness fighting through the thumb and shoulder injuries in the postseason. His heir apparent, 2021 No. 3 overall pick Trey Lance, had nothing but praise for Garoppolo during the season wrap-up press conferences.
Lynch piled on the Jimmy G love Wednesday by commending him for being a mentor to Lance and a team player despite the circumstances.
“He’s been tremendous,” Lynch said. “Competition brings out the best of us all. It certainly brought the best of Jimmy. This is a business, too. Someone’s trying to take your job, but in the midst and him understanding full-well the implications of everything we put in to drafting Trey, Jimmy was raised a certain way, he is a certain way and the class that he treated Trey with, in terms of helping him and his development, I thought says volumes about who is, about who that family is.
“I’ll forever be grateful for that. He didn’t have to do that. A lot of people don’t do that and he did, still competed his tail off and held on. It was impressive.”
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