Joe Buck and Troy Aikman have called plenty of important 49ers games over the years, including two of the team’s three playoff games last season. The pair moved to ESPN this offseason to call Monday Night Football, and they spoke about San Francisco on Monday during a call with media. Despite the lack of splashy offseason moves, Buck believes the team still has what it takes to be the top team in the NFC, and he doesn’t think Jimmy Garoppolo’s fate is sealed just yet.
Buck mentioned how open and honest 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan is in production meetings, and used that to springboard into his thoughts on the Garoppolo situation. Garoppolo was expected to be traded this offseason before a shoulder injury deflated his trade market. Now the 49ers may have to choose between keeping or cutting the veteran signal caller that led them to a Super Bowl and two NFC championship games in the last three years.
“I personally don’t think it’s a foregone conclusion that Jimmy Garoppolo automatically gets shipped out. They’re too good,” Buck said via the Bay Area News Group’s Cam Inman. “They’re too ready to win right now, with the way they finished last year, coming up just shy in an (NFC) championship game. Now you’ve got to start the clock back over with a young quarterback.”
Trey Lance went 1-1 in two up-and-down starts last year while effectively redshirting after being selected No. 3 overall in the 2021 draft. His effect on the offense is unknown, but the club is hoping his elite physical tools will lift him into the echelon of quarterback that has his team in contention for championships every season.
San Francisco last year, despite the offseason quarterback drama and a slow start, managed to go 10-7 and battle their way to the NFC championship game. They lost that one, but they held a lead in the fourth quarter against the eventual Super Bowl champions. Buck believes the 49ers are in a spot to regain their foothold near the top of the NFC as long as Deebo Samuel winds up staying with the club.
“I hope that team we saw at the end of the year is back together, because they’re fun to watch,” Buck said. “They’re fun to cover. They’re really well-coached. And they can make a legitimate claim, in my opinion, to being one of the top teams in the NFC and see what happens in the playoffs.”
The 49ers are primed to go into 2022 with largely the same core that got them to the NFC title game last year. The Garoppolo and Samuel dominoes still need to fall, and the club still has to figure out its offensive line, but barring a disaster they should be making another deep playoff run and making a couple appearances on Monday Night Football with Buck and Aikman along the way.
