Mike Tannenbaum is advocating for Jimmy Garoppolo to reunite with a fellow former Patriots quarterback this summer.
No, he’s not talking about Jimmy G serving as Tom Brady’s backup in Tampa Bay.
The former NFL general manager believes Garoppolo should end up with the Cleveland Browns, who soon might be without the top signal-caller on their depth chart.
“They have a really good football team and Jimmy Garoppolo is a better football player than Jacoby Brissett — assuming Deshaun Watson will be suspended,” Tannenbaum said Thursday on ESPN’s “Get Up.” “They need to make that trade right now. I’ve been there. We traded for Brett Favre at this time in the year when we were at the Jets. Unfortunately, we had to sign Jay Cutler because Ryan Tannehill got hurt in Miami. It’s really hard to acclimate a quarterback this late in the process. So, every day that goes by that Jimmy Garoppolo’s not a Cleveland Brown, his value to them goes down. He’s also coming off a shoulder surgery. So, for a quarterback, there’s some significant hurdles for the Browns right now.”
There’s an obvious sticking point for any team that might be interested in Garoppolo. The 30-year-old is set to account for a 2022 salary cap hit of nearly $27 million, which is a significant price to pay for one season of an oft-injured quarterback. But if the 49ers agree to eat some of that money, the sides could be in business.
San Francisco reportedly has given Garoppolo’s camp the green light to seek out a trade themselves. One has to imagine the Browns will be receiving one of the calls from the QB’s representatives.
