Jets’ trade of Darnold likely won’t affect Garoppolo in ’21
Jimmy Garoppolo, still a 49er.
He was not traded in this past month’s quarterback frenzy, nor was he part of Monday’s move involving the New York Jets’ exportation of Sam Darnold, who’s reportedly been dealt to the Carolina Panthers.
Any quarterback movement, however, can have trickledown effects on Garoppolo’s status, such as:
• Is 2020 Panthers starter Teddy Bridgewater now expendable, as NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport suggested, and would he be more appealing at a $17 million salary than Garoppolo ($24 million), all to pair with whatever rookie the 49ers draft with the No. 3 pick? The likely answer: heck no.
• This confirms the Jets will have a new quarterback, and while speculation intensifies on BYU’s Zach Wilson as their No. 2 overall pick, might the Jets be willing to swap that spot for Garoppolo and the 49ers’ No. 3 pick? The likely answer: heck no.
• If Darnold fetched a 2021 sixth-round pick and 2022 secondand fourth-round spots, would Garoppolo have a significantly higher value? The likely answer: heck yes.
• Did the Panthers want Darnold because they think their No. 8 pick isn’t high enough to draft their preferred quarterback, perhaps Mac Jones, who some project to the 49ers at No. 3? The
likely answer: who knows, it’s lying season.
• If the 49ers’ quarterback at No. 3 backfires in three years the way Darnold (2018 No. 3 pick) did for the Jets, will Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch be around to make a similar trade in 2024? The likely answer: nope.
• Is Garoppolo the next quarterback on the trade clock? Answer: Feels too late, baby. It remains unlikely he’ll be dealt before this month’s draft. Next year is the 49ers’ targeted timeline to move off Garoppolo, and it makes the most sense.
Would they take a firstround pick for him? Perhaps. But hold off on that dream, please. A first-round bounty is the goal for next offseason, once Garoppolo rebuilds his brand with a healthier 2021 season and winning whatever competition ensues with an incoming rookie.
No team figures to pony up a first-rounder in the next three weeks. It’s believed someone offered that a year ago, and then Garoppolo’s stock sunk Sept. 20 with a high ankle injury that shortened his 2020 season to six starts.
ADay2draftpick—in the second or third round – should not sway the 49ers from their outspoken plan: Keep Garoppolo as their 2021 starter, draft his eventual (not immediate) successor at No. 3 overall.
“We’ve got a guy in here who we know we can win with, a guy that our players love, that we love and we’re excited to have him this year,” coach Shanahan said last week, “and we’re excited to have a hell of a quarterback right behind him learning for when the time is his.”
“Agreed,” general manager John Lynch immediately responded.
Does that sound like they want a rookie starting this Sept. 12, or that they want Garoppolo to lace up his Jordans for an immediate hike out of town, when another offseason could be confined to virtual learning rather than on-field tutoring?
They didn’t say anything about next year, however. Maybe the only way Garoppolo becomes a goner this year is at his own insistence.
So far, Garoppolo remains on script and out of sight. It’s
another offseason in hiding, reserving his right to remain silent while rumors fly about his job security. (He’s been low-key and extremely private since his July 2018 date/fiasco with an adult-film star.)
Last year, the 49ers nearly outsourced his job to Tom Brady. This year, it is either Zach Wilson, Justin Fields, Mac Jones or Trey Lance, and not necessarily in that order but whichever quarterback Shanahan wants and remains on the board after the first two spots held by the Jacksonville Jaguars and the New York Jets.
Even next year, there’s a remote possibility Garoppolo keeps his job if, say, a sixth Lombardi Trophy is added to the 49ers’ collection in February.
“We all as a team and organization have the utmost respect for Jimmy and trust everything he’s done; he’s led the team to the Super Bowl,” cornerback Jason Verrett said Monday on a video call. “John (Lynch) and Kyle are going to do what’s best for the organization and add players that help us win.”
Who’d bid on Garoppolo now?
Pick any quarterback-needy team — Chicago has already committed $10 million to Andy Dalton as their starter — and look at any 2021 or ’22 picks, and it’s still unlikely the 49ers make a deal to forge ahead this season with a rookie starter backed up by Josh Rosen and Josh Johnson.
A rookie-Rosen-Johnson depth chart would offer no one with previous experience in Shanahan’s system. Same goes if Bridgewater and his injury history is added to the mix.
The New England Patriots, who drafted Garoppolo in the
second round in 2014, haven’t come strong and aren’t believed to have offered more than a third-rounder.
“It’s fair to say it’s off the table for now,” ESPN Patriots’ reporter Mike Reiss said Monday on “Get Up” of a potential Garoppolo-Patriots reunion. “Things can always change. The Patriots don’t seem inclined right now to meet whatever price the 49ers would be looking for to trade Jimmy Garoppolo.”
The Patriots have the 15th pick, plus one each in the second round (No. 46) and third round (No. 96).
The Denver Broncos (Nos. 9, 40, 71) have higher draft slots. Washington is at Nos. 19, 51, 74 and 82.
Financially, the 49ers aren’t quivering about carrying the contracts of a highpriced rookie with Garoppolo’s $24 million salary, which becomes guaranteed if he’s on the Week 1 roster. They don’t need the cap savings. There is no one worthy to spend a huge chunk on in free agency, not after what they deemed a marvelous March by retaining Trent Williams, Kyle Juszczyk, Jason Verrett, K’Waun Williams and others.
“It’s going to be hard to find a quarterback that gives us a better chance to win than Jimmy right now, especially even a rookie in the draft,” Shanahan added. “So, that’s what you look into.
“Now, if someone wanted (to trade) something for that and it can make your team better in a lot of other ways, you listen to that, but also depends on how good you feel about that rookie. We’re not there yet right now and odds are, we probably won’t be. That’s why we’re happy that we don’t have to be that way.”