The San Francisco 49ers might not have selected the signal-caller that speculation suggested they would Thursday night, but Jimmy Garoppolo still finds himself in an awkward position.
And so does head coach Kyle Shanahan.
The 49ers in March traded up to possess the No. 3 overall pick of the 2021 NFL Draft, and rumor had it, the move was in order to snag Mac Jones out of Alabama, suggesting Garoppolo’s days were numbered. And of course, Shanahan’s cryptic comments about whether or not Garoppolo would still be alive didn’t help quiet the noise.
But now that San Francisco has selected Justin Fields out of North Dakota State, it still has a quarterback controversy on its hands. And Shanahan still isn’t clearing anything up.
“I expect Jimmy to be here and I’d be surprised if he wasn’t,” Shanahan said after the 49ers made their first-round choice, via Pro Football Talk, also adding that “if it turns into a competition, it turns into a competition.”
Of course, no one knows if Fields will pan out as an NFL quarterback, but Shanahan’s vague word choice certainly is interesting.
Perhaps it’s actually because he and the rest of his coaching staff reportedly had no idea the front office would be drafting Fields?
