San Francisco 49ers Retain Jimmy Garoppolo; A Balancing Act Will Be Required

It was throughout all of training camp that San Francisco 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo could be seen working out on the side as the rest of his teammates took part in practice.

This seemed to be more symbolic than anything else. He wasn’t practicing with the rest of his team at SAP Performance Facility in Santa Clara. He wasn’t working out with teammates. He was not sporting 49ers gear. Most expected Garoppolo to be gone by Week 1 as San Francisco goes with second-year quarterback Trey Lance as the starter. That included the 49ers’ brass itself.

“We have moved on to Trey (Lance). We think Jimmy would have been traded if the surgery didn’t happen,” San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan told reporters at the start of training camp. “He needed to do it, there’s no ill will there at all. It’s good to see that he is healthy, but now it’s about seeing how all this will end up.”

Thus ends Garoppolo’s largely successful career in San Francisco, one that included two NFC Championship Game appearances and a conference championship.

Not so fast.

In what has to be appraised as a surprising culmination to this drawn-out saga, Garoppolo and the 49ers have reportedly agreed to a restructured one-year contract that will keep him with the team.

Said deal calls for a base salary of $6.5 million with another $500,000 in roster bonuses. Garoppolo can earn upward of $16 million depending on playing time other factors.

Garoppolo will now join Lance on the practice field some time later this week after the 49ers canceled practice on Tuesday in favor of Shanahan and general manager John Lynch holding a teleconference with reporters. San Francisco’s brass might want us to believe that it has to do with roster cut-down day around the NFL. But we’re not that naive. Well, at least most of us aren’t.

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San Francisco 49ers Create A Ton Of Cap Room By Restructuring Jimmy Garoppolo’s Contract

If the 49ers had released Garoppolo outright or somehow found a trade partner, they would’ve saved north of $24 million against the cap. As it is, Garoppolo’s current cap hit is an estimated $8.34 million, saving about $17 million.

Once we have done all of the financial gymnastics that would make Fed Chair Jerome H. Powell envious, San Francisco now finds itself with roughly $20 million in cap room.

Will Lynch and Co. go out there and finally solve the 49ers’ interior offensive line issues after this part of the team looked lost during the preseason? I wouldn’t bank on a big-money addition with this new surplus in room.

With that said, it does give San Francisco a ton of flexibility heading into Week 1 against the Chicago Bears. That can’t be seen as a bad thing.

Yes, The San Francisco 49ers Are Still Able Trade Jimmy Garoppolo

Attention spans in today’s social-media-driven society don’t necessarily equate to deep thinking. When reports broke of Garoppolo returning to the 49ers, most figured that he would be a member of the team throughout the 2022 season.

That still seems to be a somewhat unlikely scenario. Attention to detail, folks. Garoppolo’s restructured deal includes a no-trade clause for the quarterback. Simply put, he can dictate where he lands should a trade become part of the conversation ahead of the NFL-mandated November deadline.

In short, this helps Garoppolo. Should another team find itself in need of help at quarterback, either via injury or poor play, he can decide if he wants to be moved. In addition to this, San Francisco promised not to place the franchise tag on Garoppolo following the 2022 season, enabling him to hit the free agent market in the process.

Garoppolo’s off-season shoulder surgery, coupled with the timing of said procedure, dried out his trade market in a big way. The veteran was not going to land a starting job elsewhere.

It’s in this that Garoppolo and his agent over at Yee & Dubin Sports, Don Yee, likely came to the conclusion that a return to San Francisco made the most sense.

The 49ers are slated to start an inexperienced signal caller under center. Garoppolo knows Shanahan’s system like his own image in the mirror. Should Lance struggle or find himself injured, it would be an easy transition to Garoppolo. All the while, the Super Bowl quarterback ups his value on the free agent market next spring.

This is the long form way of concluding that Garoppolo could be dealt ahead of the Nov. 1 NFL trade deadline.

After all, Daniel Jones is still starting for the New York Giants. This iteration of Joe Flacco will likely be under center for the New York Jets in Week 1. Let’s not even mention Geno Smith taking first-team reps with the Seattle Seahawks and potential injuries that could come up. With a $6.5 million cap hit, Garoppolo becomes a cheap option should “quarterback purgatory” continue to be the name of the game around the NFL.

The San Francisco 49ers Balancing Act

I focused on the finances surrounding Garoppolo’s return to the 49ers. There’s also something to be said about San Francisco now boasting the most-proven backup quarterback in the NFL.

That’s all fine and dandy. But human nature also comes into play here. You know, something that impacts us all.

Lance, 22, was already feeling the pressure of leading a Super Bowl contender into Week 1 having thrown all of 279 regular-season passes since the end of his high school career. Yes, that’s an actual thing.

The youngster will now have a quarterback who has led San Francisco to two NFC Championship Games over the past three seasons on the roster behind him. It’s a quarterback who has the support of his teammates despite the fan base being more split than those who are governing in D.C.

Some will conclude that Lance doesn’t have what it takes if it lets this impact him. Others point to completely different situations in which a young quarterback melted under the heat. Neither of these factors could impact Lance. Both could ultimately play a role in what happens in his head.

None of us have any idea how this is going to play out. Is it going to be similar to the Joe Montana and Steve Young situation, circa 1980s-1990s? What about the Aaron Rodgers and Brett Favre drama surrounding the Green Bay Packers during simpler times?

“We can know only that we know nothing. And that is the highest degree of human wisdom,” Leo Tolstoy.

Regardless of what Shanahan and Lynch want us to believe when they meet the media, that quote from one of the best writers of all-time stands the test of time.

It is going to be a juggling act for the 49ers heading into a season in which there are internal expectations for championship contention. Retaining Garoppolo only magnifies this further.