The 49ers Can't Find a Trade Partner for Jimmy Garoppolo
What a shocker.
After stubbornly holding onto Jimmy Garoppolo all offseason in hopes that a trade market for him magically would materialize out of thin air, it hasn't, according to the NFL Network's Ian Rapoport.
"Jimmy Garoppolo with the 49ers -- obviously he is not their future quarterback," Rapoport said. "They made it abundantly clear it is going to be Trey Lance. Are the 49ers going to be able to trade Garoppolo and his $20-plus-million salary? My understanding is a trade partner, as of right now, absent some quarterback injury, does not exist. So the 49ers' options -- they've made this very clear, including recently, from the comments of general manager John Lynch (Thursday) night -- the options are either cut him, or somehow, someway keep him on the roster. We will see which way they end up going, but the answer must come pretty soon."
Rapoport mentioned that the 49ers have a choice -- they can cut Garoppolo or keep him on the roster. I'm guessing they'll keep him on the roster, considering Kyle Shanahan, John Lynch and Jed York all have said Garoppolo is too good to release, and they'd be happy to keep him as Trey Lance's backup.
At no point since the 49ers drafted Lance have they shown real confidence in him. Every step of the way, they've acted nervous and scared about the transition to him as the starting quarterback. That doesn't mean he'll fail -- it simply means the 49ers are scared of the unknown. That's another reason why I believe they'll keep Garoppolo -- to hedge their bets, just in case Lance flops. They don't know what to expect, and they want to protect themselves from major embarrassment, even if there's only a small chance that Lance is bust.
Cutting Garoppolo would be a huge vote of confidence for Lance. Unfortunately for him, I don't see Garoppolo going anywhere any time soon.
