Are the 49ers Afraid Jimmy Garoppolo Will Succeed on His Next Team?

Admit it, the following thought has crossed your mind:

Do the 49ers keep Jimmy Garoppolo around because they're afraid he'll succeed on his next team and make them look bad?

Think about it. Garoppolo doesn't seem to have a trade market, because his contract is expensive -- $27 million in 2022. But if the 49ers were to cut him, and they can do that whenever they want, then certain teams might want to sign him on the cheap. Which means Garoppolo still could wind up the starting quarterback for a decent team and have a decent season. And if somehow he were to finish the season with a better record than Trey Lance and the 49ers, boy would they look extremely foolish for cutting him.

It's possible the 49ers are terrified of that possibility and intend to hold onto Garoppolo until every starting job is gone and his only option is to be a backup quarterback here or somewhere else.

I have no idea what the 49ers are thinking. So I asked my father, Lowell Cohn, who covered the 49ers from 1979 to 2017, what he thinks.

Here's what he said:

"I don't think there's anything to that. First of all, if they trade him to another team, he's not good enough to make them look bad for trading him. In fact, the best he can look is as a quarterback for Kyle Shanahan, who is brilliant at emphasizing the few things that Jimmy does well and is even more brilliant at camouflaging all the things he doesn't do well.

"If your hypothesis has weight, that they're afraid of looking bad, it would underline for me that the front office is insane."

Good points, Dad.