Ian Rapoport of NFL Media mentioned Friday that Texans HC Bill O’Brien would “love” to bring in someone like Patriots backup QB Jimmy Garoppolo this offseason.
“Of course Bill O’Brien would love to acquire someone as talented as Jimmy Garoppolo,” Rapoport said. “It would make a lot of sense. The system would be the same, the transition would be easy, everything would match up.”
However, Rapoport says that New England still isn’t interested in making Garoppolo available for trade.
“From my understanding, the Patriots do not want to deal Jimmy Garoppolo,” Rapoport said. “They really just don’t, whether it’s to the Browns, whether it’s to the Texans. Their stance right now … is they do not want to give up someone who they consider a franchise quarterback for a pick this year.”
Even so, there’s still at least a chance that a team like the Browns makes another attempt at acquiring him in the coming weeks.
“The Browns may make a late run at Garoppolo,” Rapoport added, “but they do not seem to believe there’s any hope there.”
Overall, the trade buzz involving Garoppolo really has died down quite a bit the past few weeks, which further implies that the Patriots would prefer to keep him as their backup.
Previous reports have said that the Patriots would be looking for at least a first-round pick in return for Garoppolo and any deal may need to include much more than that.
The assumption was that the New England would try to move him this year, considering that he’s in the final year of his rookie deal and they could recoup some value for him. However, some believe the Patriots will try to keep him long-term as heir to Tom Brady, even though Brady has said he would like to play well into his 40s.
Garoppolo, 25, is a former second-round pick of the Patriots back in 2014. He is entering the final year of his four-year, $3,483,898 rookie contract and stands to make a base salary of $820,077 to go along with a $75,000 workout bonus for the 2017 season.
In 2016, Garoppolo completed 68.3 percent of his passes for 502 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions for the Patriots over the course of six games.
We’ll have more regarding a Garoppolo trade as the news is available.
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