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A Hypothetical 3-Team Trade Involving Matthew Stafford and Jimmy Garoppolo

The 49ers have a horrible poker face.
Grant Cohn|
A Hypothetical 3-Team Trade Involving Matthew Stafford and Jimmy Garoppolo
A Hypothetical 3-Team Trade Involving Matthew Stafford and Jimmy Garoppolo

The 49ers have a horrible poker face.

We all see they hate their hand. Everyone knows they want to dump Jimmy Garoppolo and trade for Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford. Which makes both moves tricky.

Let's say the 49ers get a great deal for Stafford -- maybe the Lions trade him for a second-round pick in 2021 and a second-round pick in 2022 -- and the 49ers accept the offer. In that case, what would happen to Garoppolo's trade value?

It would disappear. 

Suddenly, the 49ers would have two expensive veteran quarterbacks on their roster and they'd be over the cap. One quarterback would have to go -- every team would understand that. So teams simply would wait for the 49ers to release Garoppolo. Forget offering the 49ers draft picks

And let's say the 49ers get a great deal for Garoppolo -- maybe the Patriots offer their second-round pick in 2021 for him -- and the 49ers accept the offer. In that case, what would happen to Stafford's trade value?

It would sky rocket.

Suddenly, the 49ers would have no quarterbacks under contract -- they'd be desperate for Stafford. And the Lions would know that. So they might up their asking price to a first-round pick and a second-round pick, or two first-round picks. Who knows?

It seems to me the 49ers have to acquire Stafford and unload Garoppolo at the same time. In the same deal.

I'm talking a three-way trade.

The 49ers could send Jimmy Garoppolo to the Patriots, or some other team. And that team could send a second-round pick to the Lions. The 49ers could send a second-round pick to the Lions. And the Lions could send the 49ers Stafford.

Who would say no?

Published
Grant Cohn
GRANT COHN

Grant Cohn has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily since 2011. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat where he wrote the Inside the 49ers blog and covered famous coaches and athletes such as Jim Harbaugh, Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Willis. In 2012, Inside the 49ers won Sports Blog of the Year from the Peninsula Press Club. In 2020, Cohn joined FanNation and began writing All49ers. In addition, he created a YouTube channel which has become the go-to place on YouTube to consume 49ers content. Cohn's channel typically generates roughly 3.5 million viewers per month, while the 49ers' official YouTube channel generates roughly 1.5 million viewers per month. Cohn live streams almost every day and posts videos hourly during the football season. Cohn is committed to asking the questions that 49ers fans want answered, and providing the most honest and interactive coverage in the country. His loyalty is to the reader and the viewer, not the team or any player or coach. Cohn is a new-age multimedia journalist with an old-school mentality, because his father is Lowell Cohn, the legendary sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1979 to 1993. The two have a live podcast every Tuesday. Grant Cohn grew up in Oakland and studied English Literature at UCLA from 2006 to 2010. He currently lives in Oakland with his wife.

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