The seemingly perpetual Jimmy Garoppolo saga may not last long after Garoppolo’s return to action from offseason shoulder surgery. Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer on Thursday said in mailbag he expects there to be a resolution to Garoppolo’s situation in early July.
In response to a question about when Garoppolo will be traded, Breer wrote that July 1 is a date to watch. Via Breer:
I’d set the over/under at July 1, and there are a couple reasons for it.
One, the hope is that Jimmy Garoppolo, coming off rotator cuff surgery, will be throwing in late June. If he can prove then that he’s capable, that’d help—remember, with just one year left on his contract, how soon he gets back to full strength is an important element in his marketability. And not being able to throw in March and April, with the rehab finish line months away, hurt his trade value then.
Two, by the time we get there, teams will have wrapped up their offseason programs, which means coaches will have had nine weeks with their players, with three weeks of OTA practices, plus the mandatory minicamp mixed in. An injury in the course of that could, of course, create a quarterback need somewhere. But even absent that, there could be a team or two that decides, after having the spring to look at their quarterbacks, to add a new one.
This tracks with what our expectation was earlier in the offseason.
However, more important than the date is that Breer never mentions the idea that Garoppolo would stay on the roster.
While Garoppolo staying in the Bay Area has been a popular discussion topic in national NFL conversations this offseason, there’s been no solid reporting that the 49ers want to keep him, and all indications from head coach Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch point to the club moving on to Trey Lance by Week 1.
If there were actual rumblings that Garoppolo was going to stay, a person as plugged in as Breer likely would’ve mentioned it.
