How can the 49ers get a first-round pick for Jimmy Garoppolo?

Posted By on February 23, 2022

All signs have pointed to the 49ers trading Jimmy Garoppolo this offseason. If we are to believe Adam Schefter, those signs may be incorrect.

During an interview on “The Ari Meirov NFL Show” podcast, Schefter cast some doubt on the certainty of a Garoppolo trade occurring.

“I’m just telling you that Trey Lance was probably further behind than people realized,” stated Schefter. “Trey Lance is greener than people realized. Trey Lance is going to need more work than people realized. And they have a roster that can win now.”

The crux of the issue according to Schefter is the belief that Trey Lance is not yet ready to play, and another year of development would be better for the team.

“Now, you’re San Francisco. Now you can say, ‘Jimmy Garoppolo is unquestionably one of the most popular and respected players in our locker room. Player’s love playing with him. We have him under contract this year at a very friendly $25 million cap number,” said Schefter. And if we play with him this year, and we lose him after this year, we’re going to get a third-round comp pick back in return.’

“So, are you better, then, playing the season with Jimmy while getting Trey the training that he still needs? Or are you better trading him for—let’s just call it a two, four, and a six? What’s the better alternative?”

Schefter echoed the sentiments of former 49ers greats Joe Montana and Steve Young regarding the Lance’s readiness to take over the starting job.

“Let me say this: He’s developing the right way,” Schefter said. “They are happy with him. But I go back to my initial statement, that he did not play college football at all two years ago. He’s coming from a small school, to begin with. And there is a steep learning curve for a quarterback like that who’s blessed with a lot of talent, who they still are very high on.

“It’s not a reflection of whether they think he’s going to make it. … I’m just giving you the other side, that I don’t think it’s a lock he is going to be traded. He very well might, but it’s not a lock.”

All this discussion around if the 49ers will move on from Garoppolo and the readiness of Lance is great for San Francisco.

You may recall how the team did nothing to quell the talk of Mac Jones being their target with the third pick in the draft. We are seeing it play out once again.

The 49ers believe they are in a position to do well in a trade of Garoppolo. Much of that hinges on the status of Aaron Rodgers and Russell Wilson.

If Rodgers chooses to retire and Wilson stays with Seattle, simple supply and demand shows San Francisco will have the best veteran quarterback on the market.

Last offseason, Mike Giardi of NFL Network reported the 49ers asking price for Garoppolo was a first-round pick. With Rodgers and Wilson off the market, this could become a reality.

There are several strong teams currently in the market for a new quarterback. Among those would be Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, Denver, and Washington.

One of these teams may be willing to give up a first in 2023 along with a mid-round pick in 2022. The thought behind that would be Garoppolo’s deep postseason runs in 2019 and 2021. By duplicating that with his new team the first-round pick would end up being late in the round, similar to an early second.

A timetable on this appears to be clear. San Francisco has several its own free agents to deal with. With the new league year set to commence on March 16, the 49ers need to get something in place for Garoppolo ahead of that time to prepare for those moves.

This article has 26 Comments

  1. The 49ers could keep him until they get what they want. I could see Jimmy still being on this team after free agency and the draft. The 49ers would be in a tough cap situation but it’s definitely manageable.

    1. That would take some major salary cap tetris along with skipping out on the first round of free agency.
      I can’t see any way they would actually do that.

  2. I think Jimmy Garoppolo is a terrific quarterback. His best football is ahead of him. If I were him, I’d demand a trade. Coach Shanahan is holding him back.

  3. Of course Lance isn’t ready. He is too raw and green. We should sign Kaepernick to start for a few years and let Lance learn from the best. But we won’t because we are not a smart organization.

    We won’t get a 1st for Jimmy G. We would be lucky to even get a 7th for him. He is worthless and teams know this. They will wait for us to release him and maybe if he is lucky he will sign somewhere as a backup.

    2. You are the least qualified person to label someone or organization not smart. In fact you appear to be less smart than Kaepernick and it doesn’t get any lower than that.

      1. Typical Smither response. Go root for the Chiefs or Washington. Or whatever team Jimmy G plays for next year. Alex and Jimmy are exactly the same. Pretty boys who can’t win when it matters. I swear 49ers fans have such a weird obsession with bad QB’s.

            1. I just say “ya I agree” because this Kaepernick dude just comes on here says the same comment every time. Just a say you agree and he has no ammo.

        2. You must be looking in the mirror, as you write that comment….your obsession with Sackopick is delusional….you rave about his talent, i.e. arm strength and speed…those don’t necessarily equate to being a great NFL QB…

            1. Kezar, really? Consider this posting from “BAF”:

              I started posting here again because I refuse to live in the past and let the nostalgia of my ex-boyfriend ninermd haunt me. Now that we broke up and I am over him I thought it would be good to come back here and get over another hurdle. Knowing he is no longer posting here and I can just be a fan again without thinking of him.

              Whoever is currently posting under the bayareafanatic handle is a garden-variety troll, nothing more. That’s the biggest drawback of PDs primitive and antiquated blogware, no catfish prevention whatsoever.

              1. I saw that. Is it really that surprising/big deal? After all, a lot of us live in San Francisco……

              2. Yeah, but that’s not either the ninermd or bayareafanatic I’ve known over the years from postings. Especially ninermd, lol.

            2. Really? I’m not so sure, Rib. I always felt this weird dynamic between the two, like they were feeding off of one another in a strange way that was super duper friendly. Then they both mysteriously disappeared from this blog right around the same time. So when BAF resurfaced years later and mentioned they ended up in a relationship, I wasn’t the least bit surprised. YMMV….

  4. Hi Jack, hope you are having a great day!
    If they can work out the finances why not keep Jimmy? Owner said it was OK if it took two years for Lance to develop right after the draft. Most relevant in my opinion is that we need two excellent QBs to get to the Super Bowl, especially if one is Jimmy. Lance gets more time, and he will inevitably play some more games. I expected Lance to play more last year, and injury bad luck was part of that for him. Jimmy’s ability to bite the bullet will be further tested this year. So they need both, and the other QB they already have as well (who will train with Lance and Aiyuk this offseason!). I fully expect Jimmy to miss several games this year – Lance time.

  5. To me if Lance is close to Jimmy’s level, even if its a little less you move on for the cap if nothing else. Additionally, if Lance is not ready, Kyle and Lynch screwed up majorly in the first round, again.
    In that scenario Kyle the GM is screwing the Kyle the coach.

    1. There was a heroic Marine in WW II named Shoup. Reading about him and
      his actions in the Tarawa battle. A brave man who wisely opposed our
      involvement in Vietnam.

  6. I haven’t seen anything on Jimmy G’s thumb injury. Does he require surgery to repair it? Could that impact the 49ers ability to get a 1st round pick for him?

  7. The Schefter argument is what we’ve come to expect from national writers: woefully ill-informed and utterly lacking in context.

    The question for the 49ers is simple: moving forward are the 49ers better with Jimmy Garoppolo, or with Trey Lance PLUS $25.5 million of additional talent.

    This is the perspective that is always lacking when this topic is discussed by national media people. This is not some fantasy world where the choice is Jimmy in a vacuum versus Trey in a vacuum (though I’d still go with Trey in that case…). No, this is the real world where the salary cap is a reality, and Jimmy’s salary will either be paid to Jimmy (and therefore not to anyone else) or to other free agent talent (current players retained, or new guys added).

    I cannot take seriously anyone who does not acknowledge the real choice, or anyone who with a straight face says that the Jimmy minus $25.5 additional talent is the better option for 2022.

  9. Hello friends my name is Sophia Martin, During the second world war the soldiers are send the messages to there seniors in form of secret codes, which is called the Morsecode language, but in today’s time it is very difficult to understand the Morsecode language, So for this problem I have created a website from where you can translate the Morsecode language into English language, you need just click on morsecode translator .

Comments are closed.