Don’t ask Kyle Shanahan about book reports — or rather, reports from books. Over the last few weeks, clips from the new book “It’s Better to be Feared” by ESPN’s Seth Wickersham have shared revelations about the inner workings of the New England Patriots.
Given that Jimmy Garoppolo was once a major part of the Patriots’ plan before he was traded to San Francisco, some of those nuggets have been based around the 49ers and Garoppolo.
One of the most prominent and recent revelations from the book was a report from Wickersham that the Patriots were interested in bringing Garoppolo back this offseason, and wondered if it could be accomplished for the same price that San Francisco acquired him for: a second-round pick.
From the book:
“There was an informal call between a high-level representative of the Patriots and a high-level 49ers official,” Wickersham writes. “What was Garoppolo’s price? New England wondered if a second-rounder would suffice—calling it even from 2017. But the 49ers wouldn’t take less than a first.
“For the moment, at least, San Francisco was counting on Garoppolo to be the quarterback for 2021. The Patriots reached the same conclusion as San Francisco — they liked the potential of the available first-round quarterbacks more than Garoppolo — and moved on.”
On Wednesday, Shanahan dismissed that report assertively. He was asked if there was validity to it and nearly cut off the question to get his answer out.
“No. None,” Shanahan said. “I also like to not keep answering questions about a book. I promise if that was the case, I would have talked to their head coach.”