Rams Had Interest In Signing Jimmy Garoppolo Before He Returned To 49ers

According to Adam Schefter, the Los Angeles Rams were interested in signing QB Jimmy Garoppolo had San Francisco ended up cutting him. 

Schefter says the two sides had the framework of a deal, unbeknownst to the 49ers. San Francisco didn’t learn about the interest until after they restructured Garoppolo’s contract to bring him back for the 2022 season. 

“It was going to be such a Rams move to make,” a member of the 49ers organization told Schefter. “Sean McVay and Kevin Demoff would have been basking in it.”

Garoppolo would have signed as a top-tier backup to Rams QB Matthew Stafford, who was limited with an elbow injury during training camp — although the Rams and Stafford insist it’s not a big deal and he played through worse last season. 

Instead, Garoppolo chose to play out the final year of his contract in a familiar environment and chart a new course for himself as a free agent in 2023. 

Garoppolo, 30, 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.

He’s in the final year of that deal and slated to make a base salary of $24.2 million in 2022. 

In 2021, Garoppolo appeared in 15 games for the 49ers and completed 68.3 percent of his passes for 3,810 yards, 20 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. He also rushed for 51 yards and three touchdowns.