This past season threw everyone for a bit of a loop, even if the 49ers always knew what their plan was. There was endless speculation about the future of Garoppolo once Trey Lance was acquired, but the 49ers kept him as the starter.
But that is pretty clearly not going to be the case this offseason, with Garoppolo giving a definitive farewell, and the tone from Shanahan, Lynch and other plays all aligning with the reality that he will be with a new team next season.
That, and the fact that the 49ers can save $24.1 million by trading or cutting Garoppolo — with pending mega extensions likely coming for Deebo Samuel and Nick Bosa — mean it’s a question of when and where, not if Garoppolo is traded.
But that didn’t stop ProFootballTalk’s Mike Florio on Wednesday.
He joined Papa and Lund, saying that he thinks there’s a chance Garoppolo sticks around.
“It was just a matter of time before Jimmy Garoppolo was gone and I think that now, but who knows?” Florio said. “They may surprise us. They may decide to have one more year with Jimmy Garoppolo. It all comes down to when Trey Lance is going to be ready to go and really, is he ready to go?”
Greg Papa quickly responded to ask if Florio had heard those rumors from sources.
“No, no, no, no,” Florio said. “I’m just trying to be realistic about it. $25 million is not an unreasonable number for one more year of Jimmy Garoppolo…
“They surprised me in keeping him into week one this year and rolling the whole season with him. It just wouldn’t surprise me if they do it again because they’ve already done enough with Jimmy G that’s made me say, ‘Wow, I didn’t expect that,’ so I’m not going to be stunned if they decide to give it one more go.”
Listen to the full interview below. You can listen to every KNBR interview on our podcast page at knbr.com/podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts.
Catch Papa and Lund weekdays from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. on KNBR 104.5 / 680 and streaming live on KNBR.com.