Why The 49ers Need to Trade Jimmy G Now
Last week's blockbuster trade between the 49ers and Miami Dolphins has the whole NFL a buzz. With pro days continuing, the 49ers have sent scouts to Alabama, BYU, and will be sending reps to the Ohio St. Pro Day as well. It is no secret that they are scouting the quarterback they will pick at No. 3 in this year’s draft. With it being up in the air who they select, what is evident is they need to trade Jimmy Garoppolo A.S.A.P.
The Jimmy G and 49ers relationship has been up and down to say the least. Although the 49ers and Jimmy G have seen a lot of success (24-9 record and a Super Bowl appearance) because of his inability to stay healthy, and turnover issues, the 49ers have never really shown a strong backing of Jimmy. Last year, they flirted with the idea of bringing in Tom Brady, and this whole offseason the 49ers have been linked to every available QB, and now are almost assured to pick their QB of the future.
On the heels of the trade up to No. 3, the 49ers have been adamant that Jimmy is staying with the 49ers and will be the starter next season, but here is a case for why they need to trade Jimmy immediately.
We have seen this same scenario play out last season with two different franchises, and neither scenario would be a good one for the 49ers.
First with Aaron Rogers and the Green Bay Packers. Green Bay traded up in last years draft to select Jordan Love, who was widely known as a project QB, and supposedly the QB of the future for Green Bay. The problem was Aaron Rogers still had 4 years left on his contract, and was under the impression he was going to finish out his career as the QB for the Packers. He showed everybody why he is considered one of the greatest QBs of all time, leading Green Bay to a 13-3 record, another NFC Championship appearance, and winning the league MVP. Jordan Love in Green Bay has taken a beating in the press in Wisconsin, and he hasn’t even played a snap for the team, all because he is being compared to the play of their QB right now.
Now Jimmy G is no Aaron Rogers, but if he were to ball out this season, and the 49ers were able to make a deep run, how much pressure would that put on the team to stick with Jimmy? Do you really want to put your rookie quarterback in that situation, where the media and fans are over-scrutinizing every throw in every practice because they just saw their favorite team winning with their current QB?
The second scenario panned out with the Philadelphia Eagles, Carson Wentz was the starter, and Jalen Hurts was drafted in the second round. This started the frenzy of whether the Eagles still believed in Wentz. As the season played out, Wentz ended up having a terrible season, and was eventually benched for the rookie Hurts. This split the locker room, where there were rumblings that there was a Team Wentz and a Team Hurts. Every week the media analyzed whether Coach Pederson and Wentz were still speaking, whether Wentz and Hurts had a good relationship, what did the rest of the team think? The whole melodrama ended with the coach getting fired, Wentz getting shipped off to Indy, and the fans and media questioning whether Hurts can be the starter for the Eagles.
The Eagles ended up getting draft picks for Wentz which I guess you can say salvaged some of the hit, however Jimmy has never had the peak Wentz did, and his value is at his highest right now. Another bad season for Jimmy G would all but kill any trade value he may have. So, maximizing that value and trading him immediately, you would be selling Jimmy at his highest, and receive some compensation in the process.
Also, Jimmy G is not your prototypical bridge QB. A bridge QB is a mentoring role, held by a QB who understands they are on the tail end of his career. The bridge QB has the understanding that he is not the type of QB a team is going to build around and understands his role as a placeholder and pseudo coach for the heir apparent. Jimmy G still believes he is a starter in this league and will be playing to prove that next season. He has no reason to be a mentor and didn’t have that experience even playing with Tom Brady in New England. It was Tom Brady who had Jimmy G shipped out because he did not want the competition. This all points to Jimmy G not being the best “bridge.”
The most important reason to trade Jimmy G right now is because whomever the 49ers do select, they need to see exactly what they have in the player, incase they get buyer's remorse. Evaluating a QB prospect is not a full-proof science. In fact, more people get it wrong than get it right. The 49ers gave up a lot to be able to move up and draft a QB, however they are in a unique situation where if they mess up, next season may give them a mulligan. Next year's offseason may have 3 perennial All Pro QBs available in Aaron Rogers, Russell Wilson, and Deshaun Watson. Although the best-case scenario is the 49ers get their QB pick right, and they have their franchise QB on a team-controlled deal for the foreseeable future, in the case that they aren’t happy with their pick, they need to know whether or not to go all in on for Rodgers or Watson. The only way they will know that is if they see their guy play, and that can only happen if Jimmy G is not in the picture.
The 49ers have a lot of decisions to make with the No. 3 pick, it is the most important pick of the Shanahan/Lynch era with the 49ers. They have staked the next few drafts on the notion that they will get this one right. However, one decision they should not waiver on, is trading Jimmy G as soon as they can.
