Jimmy Garoppolo’s offseason was one of the strangest we’ve ever seen.
He closed out the 2021 season just a few plays away from taking the 49ers to another Super Bowl, with some speculating he’d be worth a first-round pick on the trade market. Then the offseason came, his market was smaller than projected, before it completely froze when Garoppolo revealed he needed surgery to repair his throwing shoulder.
Now we are on the brink if the beginning of the 2022 season and Garoppolo is still on the roster, there may or may not be any suitors left and how long he remains in SF is anybody’s guess.
One thing we do know according to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network: Garoppolo should be fully healthy next month and his future will likely be determined shortly after that.
“Jimmy Garoppolo saw Dr. Neal Elattrache, one of the nation’s experts in this field who also did surgery on Garoppolo to repair a torn capsule in his throwing shoulder,” Rapoport said on NFL Network Wednesday. “Had that a couple days ago. Told it went well, he’s progressing well.
“He’s still throwing, has been throwing for several weeks now, and probably in a little more than a week or so it’s going to be full throttle. Able to make all the throws that he needs to make. The reason he said last night that the expectation is he’ll need to be fully cleared by mid-August is that it’s not just about making all the throws. It’s about making all the throws then doing it again, then doing it again and being able to withstand the rigors of a practice and potentially a game. That’s why mid-August is essentially when he’ll be fully cleared.
“At that point we’ll kickstart the process of figuring out where’s he going to go? Is he gonna be traded, is he gonna be release, is he gonna somehow, someway stay on the 49ers roster? Maybe. So much to be answered, but all that comes after he regains his full health.”
Ideally, the 49ers would like to trade Garoppolo, but aside from the Browns needing a QB should Deshaun Watson face a long suspension (very possible) there may not be another team on the market. Adam Schefter reported on Wednesday that the 49ers have told Garoppolo’s agent Don Yee that he can start seeking a trade for the QB.
If they can’t find a suitor, John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan are most likely to release Jimmy G rather than pay $24 million for a backup.
At this point, everyone just wants this saga to end, and thankfully it shouldn’t go on much longer.