Could the 49ers Trade Jimmy Garoppolo During the NFL Draft?

Trading Garoppolo looks the likeliest around training camp, but what about the NFL Draft?

Trading Jimmy Garoppolo has been an utter failure by the 49ers.

It is a combination of overestimating his worth and unavailability to throw until training camp due to shoulder surgery.

Regardless, the 49ers have whiffed on this and they’re trying to salvage what they can. It is why Garoppolo remains on the roster so that the 49ers can attempt to trade him again as he gets healthy. Quite the idealistic thought, but it is what they’re going with right now. Trading Garoppolo looks the likeliest around training camp, but what about the NFL Draft?

Could the 49ers trade Garoppolo during the draft?

Slim chance they do.

I wouldn’t hold my breath on it, but crazier chains of events have unfolded and the NFL Draft is exactly the place where crazy transactions transpire.

Big time trades occur during the draft all the time. Trading Garoppolo would fit that trend in a sense. Imagine if a team such as the Panthers, who are really the last glaring quarterback needy team, don’t get the quarterback they desire in the first few rounds in the draft. They could feel extremely desperate to make a move for a quarterback and think irrationally. This is where tapping the 49ers on the shoulder to inquire about Garoppolo could come to pass. Even if the Panthers weren’t too irrational about whiffing on drafting a quarterback, then they could be thinking that Garoppolo is their last resort to jolt up the quarterback position. A lot of lines of thinking and emotions can come into play here should the Panthers, or any other quarterback needy team targeting a prospect, not be able to reel in the desired player.

Not a likely scenario by any means, but things can change fast in the draft where a scenario of Garoppolo being traded can come to pass. This is where the 49ers need to be in the loop and dangle Garoppolo in front of teams. It would be malpractice to not market him out there as a reminder to teams if they whiff on getting their desired quarterback in the draft. And that’s probably what the mindset of the Panthers is. They could see it as the better route to exhaust all options in the draft than to go after Garoppolo now. Basically every team did that with Garoppolo at the start of free agency, so it’s definitely something that could be occurring with their plans.

Ultimately, a trade with Garoppolo during the draft is not something I foresee. If he hasn’t been traded now, then I don’t see it happening by the draft unless news comes out that his shoulder is coming along nicely.