Coach: Trade likely has Garoppolo mad
San Francisco 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch didn’t disguise their intentions Monday, only stopping short of naming which quarterback they want to draft and develop this year behind incumbent (and disgruntled) starter Jimmy Garoppolo.
Trading up to the No. 3 overall pick on Friday signaled that two-quarterback approach.
“We went to ownership and said, ‘Hey, things are looking good, we’d like to make this move but we also don’t want to say goodbye to Jimmy,’ ” Lynch said. “We’ve shown we can get to a Super Bowl with him. We can play at a high level, and we don’t think those two things they have to be mutually exclusive.”
Added Shanahan: “We’ve got a guy in here we know we can win with, a guy that our players love, that we love. We’re excited to have him this year and we’re excited to have a hell of a quarterback right behind him, learning for when the time’s his.”
Let’s cut to the highlights:
THE GAROPPOLO DRAMA >> First off was explaining the 49ers’ intentions with Garoppolo — and vice versa.
“I’m sure Jimmy was a little pissed off from it, like I’d be too,” Shanahan said. “But knowing Jimmy, he’ll be fired up and come in and work his butt off.
“The more mad Jimmy gets, usually the better he gets. This is going to be a good thing for Jimmy, too, which would be a great thing for the 49ers.”
Shanahan called Garoppolo before Friday’s news broke about the 49ers moving up from No. 12 overall to No. 3 (at the cost of three firstround picks and a thirdrounder to Miami), and Lynch followed up with his own call to relay the 49ers’ intentions of keeping him in 2021.
Whether Garoppolo remains on board with that plan is unknown. Neither he nor his agent has commented publicly this offseason. He has two years remaining on a contract paying him roughly $25 million annually, and the 49ers’ brass did not indicate that a holdout or trade request is forthcoming.
But Garoppolo is available via trade, even as Shanahan downplayed that possibility.
“Yeah. That’s accurate with with every player on the team, probably including myself, if someone blows us away with a trade for me,” Shanahan replied, to which Lynch interjected a “no” on any coach-related trade.
WHO’S THE GUY >> Shanahan sees a great quarterback crop awaiting in next month’s draft, and while he wouldn’t name any of the three leading options or his film-room favorite, he acknowledged there are “five guys kind of at this party.”
Lynch acknowledged that Trevor Lawrence is the projected No. 1 pick by the Jacksonville Jaguars, and then as for the No. 2 spot, Lynch said; “who knows what happens with the Jets.”
Zach Wilson (BYU), Justin Fields (Ohio State), Trey Lance (North Dakota State) and Mac Jones (Alabama) all are contenders for the 49ers (and Jets).