San Francisco 49ers’ Quarterback Succession Plan Off To Ideal Start

There might not be much feeling of satisfaction at the San Francisco 49ers’ headquarters in the wake of a heartbreaking NFC Championship Game defeat to the Los Angeles Rams. Coming up short with the Super Bowl in touching distance is always a difficult setback to overcome but, when Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch have time to reflect on the season in its entirety, they can afford to have some sense of vindication.

For the Niners, the 2021 season always looked destined to be a tricky balancing act, having made a trade that will define the Shanahan-Lynch era by dealing three first-round picks to the Miami Dolphins to move up and select Trey Lance with the third overall pick only to continue to start Jimmy Garoppolo at quarterback.

San Francisco stuck with Garoppolo due to the belief the Niners had a Super Bowl caliber roster and that the much-maligned former New England Patriot gave them the best chance of returning to that stage.

There were points in the season where both claims looked dubious, most notably in November when the 49ers dropped to 3-5 following a blowout loss to a Kyler Murray-less Arizona Cardinals.

However, their surge down the second half of the season that saw them win seven of the last nine games to make the postseason—fueled in large part by the defense and the exploits of Deebo Samuel and the running game but that also featured some clutch play from Garoppolo—drastically changed the narrative around a season that initially looked set to pile pressure on the head coach and general manager.

Playoff victories on the road over a much-fancied Dallas Cowboys team and top-seeded Green Bay Packers may not have done much to help Garoppolo’s standing as he frequently struggled in the postseason, yet they served to further illustrate San Francisco’s status as a championship contender with elite talent and excellent coaching on both sides of the ball.

Though what for the most part was a relatively strong performance from Garoppolo in the Championship Game descended into a nightmare in the fourth quarter as the Niners let a 17-7 lead slip in a 20-17 loss that ended with a dismal interception, San Francisco can likely afford to be confident in recouping acceptable compensation for their soon-to-be former starter as the franchise moves on to Lance.

For as much as Garoppolo is something of a product of Shanahan’s system, this season reaffirmed the fact he is a quarterback with whom a team that has the right supporting cast can win a lot of games.

There are several franchises who fit that description in the market for a quarterback, with Tom Brady’s retirement potentially meaning the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will join the Pittsburgh Steelers, Denver Broncos and New Orleans on the list of playoff caliber teams searching for a new signal-caller for 2022.

Coming off a year in which he almost helped the Niners back to the biggest stage, Garoppolo’s stock is “probably as high as it’s been”, according to NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport, who did caution that likely surgery on a torn ligament in Garoppolo’s thumb may impact the desire of teams to trade for him in the immediate future.

But it appears to be a question of when and not if the Niners get the salary cap relief and draft capital they will need to maximize their chances of instantly contending for a title with Lance through a trade of Garoppolo.

That $25.55 million of salary cap space (h/t Spotrac) will arrive after a season that, when the pain of how it ended subsides, can be looked back on as a success.

The 49ers are firmly back among the elite and head into the offseason about to net the resources to build further around arguably the most physically gifted quarterback from the 2021 draft class. They may not have prevailed in the Conference Championship, but the Niners’ succession plan at quarterback is right on track.