If Jimmy’s their ‘guy,’ brass needs to prove it
We’re never going to come to a consensus of what Jimmy Garoppolo is or what he could be as a quarterback.
On one hand, the 2019 season was his first full season as an NFL quarterback.
On the other hand, he’s a soon-tobe 29-year-old quarterback who may have already reached his potential ceiling.
On one hand, he led the 49ers to the Super Bowl.
On the other hand, he is arguably the one player most responsible for the 49ers losing that Super Bowl, thanks to his horrendous fourth-quarter performance. (And it’s not like his playoff performances were positives on his resume.).
In a time and age where
there isn’t much nuance or balance in our conversations about sports, Garoppolo rests in a strange place in the sports conversation. Much like the 49ers themselves, he can be really good — but is he good enough?
The 49ers brass of general manager John Lynch and head coach Kyle Shanahan want you to believe that they’re not asking such questions. Both backed their quarterback at the NFL scouting combine in Indianapolis on Tuesday. The praise was downright effusive.
“We’re extremely proud of Jimmy and committed to Jimmy moving forward,” Lynch said. “He’s our guy.”
Sure, that’s a tone you’d expect to hear from Lynch — but for Shanahan, the perfectionist to say “I was very impressed with him,” told us something.
Not a lot. But something.
Tuesday’s comments were public relations. You don’t go trash your morethan-competent quarterback to the media at the combine. That’d show your hand.
No, the full story of what the 49ers think about Garoppolo is yet to be told.
If the 49ers’ brass really feels so strongly about Garoppolo being their quarterback moving forward into next year and beyond, they can prove it by offering him a contract extension this offseason.
After all, money talks and PR (or another two initials) walks.
Garoppolo’s current contract with the 49ers has — as most Paraag Marathe-negotiated contracts do — an easy escape route for the team. The 49ers front-loaded the once-largest contract in NFL history, leaving them a series of outs, starting this offseason. If the 49ers were to cut Garoppolo before April 1 (the date when 65 percent of his 2020 salary becomes guaranteed), the Niners would only incur a $4.8 million hit against their salary cap for the next season. In the 2021 and 2022 offseasons it becomes even easier for the 49ers to move off Garoppolo, should they wish — there are no early guarantee dates in those years and the dead-cap numbers drop to $2.8 and $1.4 million.
But, as common sense and Tuesday’s comments make evident, the 49ers aren’t going to move on from Garoppolo this offseason. The same logic will probably apply to next offseason, too.
And with that being the case, it’s fair to wonder why the 49ers need the easy outs.
It seems ridiculous considering the amount of salary cap space this team has boasted in recent years, but the Niners are in a cap crunch now — one that brings into question if they can execute all of their offseason priorities, which includes extending DeForest Bucker and George Kittle and signing Arik Armstead and Emmanuel Sanders (or similarly priced upgrades) to new deals.
There are small moves the 49ers will certainly make to free up some cap space, but the most reasonable way for that team to clear a sizable chunk of space is to extend or restructure Garoppolo’s contract.
By moving a large portion of Garoppolo’s annual pay over the next three years from salary to bonus money, they could save up to $19 million in cap space this season, per Niners Nation’s Jason Hurley.
Even a restructure or extension for two seasons would help the 49ers in a significant way.
Of course, it takes two to tango — Garoppolo would have to agree to a restructuring or an extension, but seeing as he’d be increasing his job security and probably his salary a bit, too, I don’t foresee him being the hang up in such a negotiation.
It really comes down to how much the 49ers believe in their quarterback.
Do they extend him, help keep the NFC champions together — or even improve upon last year’s roster with a big freeagent signing or two — or do they opt to keep their options open heading into next offseason?
Shanahan and Lynch said nice things Tuesday, but that decision will tell us everything we need to know.