According to Jason La Canfora, multiple league and team sources have indicated the 49ers are keeping their options open with regards to the future of QB Jimmy Garoppolo with the team.
La Canfora notes Garoppolo’s play has been up and down ever since San Francisco traded for him and signed him to an extension. There’s no guaranteed money remaining on his contract, however, if the 49ers decide they want to make a change.
“It’s wait and see,” said one source with knowledge of the situation. “He’s still under evaluation. It could go in a few different directions, and is it possible he’s not the guy next year? That’s fair. I don’t think that’s lost on anybody.”
A number of people around the league also tell La Canfora that there will be multiple quarterbacks potentially available this offseason that 49ers HC Kyle Shanahan is known to love, including Falcons QB Matt Ryan and Vikings QB Kirk Cousins.
La Canfora adds Shanahan could also elect to go cheap at the position with the cap in 2021 set to drop.
“Kyle thinks he can turn almost anyone into a star,” one league source who has worked with Shanahan extensively said. “He’s had a lot of success with a lot of different guys and the salary structure on that team has changed dramatically the last few years. He’s not a guy who thinks he needs a $30 million a year QB to win. And they aren’t exactly gushing about the guy that they have now.”
Garoppolo has already been benched this season in a blowout loss to the Dolphins, though his high-ankle sprain seems like it played a role in that decision as much as his performance did.
Garoppolo, 28, is a former second-round pick of the Patriots back in 2014. The Patriots traded him to the 49ers in 2017 at the trade deadline in return for a 2018 second-round pick.
Garoppolo was in line to be an unrestricted free agent when the 49ers signed him to a five-year, $137.5 million contract during the 2018 offseason.
Entering today’s game, Garoppolo has appeared in four games for the 49ers and completed 67.1 percent of his passes for 735 yards, seven touchdowns and two interceptions.
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Desperate for a headline I guess. And to mention Cousins is just silly, he’s proven to be a guy that has no temperament for pressure. None. Ryan, maybe, but he’s pretty old. Every team is going to have cap problems with the decrease coming in 2021, so likely high $$ guys are going to take it in the shorts no matter what. I would bet most teams are going to cut or give large haircuts to all their big contract players.
Prognosticator
I think your right I agree…money is going to drive team choices even MORE now each team might have 2 or 3 big money players but the drop off will be those middle high salaries….teams had better have solid scouts moving forward……