At the conclusion of the 2022 campaign, Kyle Shanahan was asked if he could envision a scenario in which Jimmy Garoppolo, a free agent, would return to the team.
He did not leave anything vague.
“No,” Shanahan said. “I don’t see any scenario of that.”
On Thursday, after a joint practice with the Raiders in which Garoppolo reportedly led a touchdown drive in a two-minute drill, Shanahan was asked again about his comments.
He defended the statement and praised Garoppolo’s time with the organization, saying it was something based in reality.
I think I’ve talked about his legacy. I think Jimmy was unbelievable for us. We won lots of games.
I think that was a simple question, ‘Is there a scenario where he’ll be back here next year?’
And I give a common sense answer of, ‘No.’
I think that was a little overblown on trying to be a shot at him or anything. I mean, we knew Jimmy wasn’t coming back on his standpoint and our standpoint, financially and everything. So that was just the common sense answer.
Shanahan doubled down on his support of Garoppolo:
Any time I’ve been asked about Jimmy and what he meant to us and how he was, I’ve never said it differently. Jimmy was unbelievable here.
I think he was the best quarterback here in about 20 years since Steve Young. Has an unbelievable record and every time he played and stayed healthy, we’re either in the Super Bowl or NFC Championship game so I hope no one insinuates I’ve ever said differently.
This comes after an interview Garoppolo did with Mike Silver of the San Francisco Chronicle, when he was asked about that quote from Shanahan.
Garoppolo acknowledged he was passed on the quote.
“Yeah, definitely,” Garoppolo said. “I didn’t see it, no, but someone probably texted me about it. I don’t know if I responded.”
Garoppolo, of course, had immense success with the 49ers, reaching a Super Bowl and NFC Championship game. He boasted a 42-19 record as a starter, but will be maligned for coming up short against both the Chiefs and Rams in those games, as well as his persistent injury history.