49ers Starting Jimmy Garoppolo At QB In Week 13

The San Francisco 49ers announced Tuesday that they’re starting Jimmy Garoppolo at quarterback for Sunday’s game against the Bears.

Indications have been that the 49ers were likely to turn to Garoppolo this week, given that he looked good during his brief appearance last weekend and QB C.J. Beathard is dealing with some injuries.

Since the 49ers acquired Garoppolo from the Patriots ahead of the trade deadline, they’ve been patient with him and have been trying to ensure that he’s got a good handle of their offense. However, it appears as though they’re finally at this point.

The 49ers have an interesting situation to watch next year with Garoppolo, given that he’ll be an unrestricted free agent.

49ers HC Kyle Shanahan said recently that they have concerns about using the franchise tag on Garoppolo if need be.

“He does not have to play (this season),” Shanahan said, via Eric Branch of the San Francisco Chronicle. “It’s not that we’re coming to this deadline and we’ve got to decide our future, ours and his, for both sides. We’ve got six games left and we’re going to have next year, also. I know you have to franchise a quarterback to keep him, but quarterbacks are expensive. And that is not that big of a deal to us.”

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.

Garoppolo is in line to be an unrestricted free agent next year.

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 have him featured in our Top 25 – 2018 NFL Free Agents list.