The 49ers have been adamant in saying they will be trading away Jimmy Garoppolo, but San Francisco has remained patient throughout the 2022 offseason, and that doesn’t look to be changing anytime soon.
Coach Kyle Shanahan made it clear Tuesday the former New England Patriots quarterback will be traded, but the move was delayed due to the signal-caller’s offseason shoulder surgery. NFL Network analyst and sports Emmy winner Peter Schrager was on the Pat McAfee Show on Wednesday, and admitted the market for a Garoppolo trade is shallow.
“I don’t have a team, I don’t have a market for him,” Schrager said. “Even Kyle when he said that was like, he’ll get traded eventually, but the shoulder surgery kind of put things on pause. I don’t think they knew he was getting that surgery when, and it was right at the combine when the start of the trade started happen. That kind of stopped the market, and it kind of puts them in a bind.
“They’re too smart, too savvy to trade him for 20 cents on the dollar. Right now, there is no market, that I know of, of teams banging down the door for Jimmy G. Maybe training camp when there’s an injury but gosh, you’re trading for someone you haven’t seen throw a football, and it’s $25 million for a payday and a price tag. I’ve been saying this since free agency, by the way, when everyone was saying, ‘You can’t keep them both.’ They’re both there still, and we’re heading toward June.”
The 49ers are fully invested in their 2021 first-round pick Trey Lance and are seemingly prepared to have Garoppolo on as their back-up quarterback, despite his $26.9 million cap hit in 2022. Garoppolo has not participated in offseason workouts as he is still rehabbing from his shoulder surgery.
“The hope is by early July he’s throwing again, but even then, what does that mean, I don’t know” Schrager said.
The market for starting quarterbacks is currently non-existent. The Carolina Panthers had been rumored to Garoppolo and Cleveland Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield, but their choice to draft tackle Ikem Ekwonu in the first round and Ole Miss quarterback Matt Corral in the third round has left the 49ers waiting for a potential suitor to emerge.
“They’ve been pretty candid,” Schrager said. “Even John Lynch was on with me at the combine and was like, we’re gonna do what’s right for Jimmy and for us, but you don’t trade Jimmy Garoppolo, who’s a starting quarterback in the NFL, for a 2028 seventh-round pick. You gotta get something back in the return. You look at Carolina, and you say, well that’s a good fit, right? If Carolina’s not offering anything right now, they’re not just gonna trade him for 20 cents on the dollar.”
Teams are always on the hunt for a quarterback, but Garoppolo’s future as a starting quarterback will seemingly depend on how patient the 49ers are willing to be
