Thought we were done with the “Will Jimmy Garoppolo stay with the 49ers” questions? Think again.
It’s none other than ESPN’s Adam Schefter who decided to keep that ball rolling on Thursday before the 49ers’ preseason finale, arguing on “NFL Live” that a restructure may just be the best path forward for both Garoppolo and the 49ers.
“The 49ers are going to have to decide whether or not they are willing to keep — yes, keep — Jimmy Garoppolo,” Schefter said on ESPN via NBC Sports Bay Area. “And Jimmy Garoppolo is going to have to decide whether he’s willing to restructure his contract and stay in San Francisco, or whether he wants to move on and become a free agent. Both sides are going to have a say in how this works out. It might just be that the best scenario is for both sides to work together to stay together for this year, so that the 49ers can have a capable No. 2 quarterback backing up Trey Lance.”
The idea that this would be the best scenario for Garoppolo assumes that there isn’t another team that wants to bring him in to compete for a first string job. 49ers beat writer Matt Maiocco said on KNBR earlier this week that San Francisco believes Garoppolo will be scooped up by the Seattle Seahawks if they release him, and that certainly seems like a team where Garoppolo would be able to compete for a starting spot.
“No. 1, the team knows it is Trey Lance’s team. If you keep Jimmy Garoppolo, everyone knows it is as a No. 2 quarterback,” Schefter said. “It gives the 49ers the depth behind basically a rookie quarterback, and it gives Jimmy Garoppolo maybe his best option if, again, both sides agree to do that.”
One could even argue that Garoppolo being backup elsewhere would be better than staying in San Francisco, considering Garoppolo found sharing the spotlight with Lance last year to be very difficult by his own admission.
Still, Schefter doesn’t believe Jimmy G will have many suitors.
“Earlier in the offseason, the 49ers would have traded him, but he had the shoulder surgery,” Schefter said. “He wasn’t healthy. Now he is healthy, but there’s not a team that has a need.
“So the need might be for both sides to figure this out with the idea and the sense and the belief that Trey Lance is the starter and Jimmy Garoppolo is the No. 2.”