© Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports
Matthew Stafford is a Los Angeles Ram. At this juncture, it can very easily be argued that the 49ers have the worst quarterback in the NFC West. The Rams, desperate to move on from Jared Goff and the $141 million extension that kicked in this season, traded Goff, a 2021 third-round pick, a 2022 first-round pick and a 2023 first-round pick for Stafford. Goff was the Rams’ last first round pick in 2017.
There were rumors that the 49ers were in on Stafford, and the smoke around that appears to be legitimate. But, according to Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated, the pursuit of Stafford more amounted to San Francisco dipping its toes in water of a hot tub that it found too hot for comfort. Per Breer, the 49ers (who he intimates were Stafford’s No. 2 preferred destination, behind the Rams) never made a tangible trade offer.
From Breer:
“The Niners talked to the Lions in Mobile, but at the time were a little lukewarm and never made an official offer. They’d planned to circle back with Detroit after the weekend, but when things escalated Saturday and the Lions called back, the price had gone beyond what they were willing to offer (in part because they’re fine going forward with Jimmy Garoppolo). My sense is the 12th pick was never going to be offered.”
You may have noticed that on Saturday night, there was an awful lot of reporting to the tune of of “the 49ers are happy with Jimmy Garoppolo,” just before it became apparent that the Stafford-to-LA deal was done. It smelled quite a bit like damage control; San Francisco trying to play it off like they were just doing due diligence on Stafford.
So, for the moment, but likely for the 2021 season, it’s Jimmy Garoppolo still in Santa Clara.