Jimmy Garoppolo was extremely available for any quarterback-needy teams this offseason.
The San Francisco 49ers sent a very loud message his time with the club was limited after trading three first round picks in order to draft Trey Lance in 2021. After naming Lance the team’s starter at the outset of 2022’s training camp, team executives gave Garoppolo and his agent the opportunity to work out a trade to any of the other 31 teams in the league.
It didn’t come to fruition. Garoppolo couldn’t follow in Baker Mayfield’s redepemption-arc footsteps. The Carolina Panthers were stocked up on middling veteran quarterbacks. The Seattle Seahawks opted to roll with Geno Smith. The Cleveland Browns shrugged and decided Jacoby Brissett was a better fit for the 11 games in which Deshaun Watson will be suspended for a years-long pattern of predatory behavior.
So rather than risk being released as the NFL’s roster cut-down date approached, Garoppolo opted to take a pay cut that keeps him in California and leaves him a scant amount of autonomy in 2022.
Jimmy Garoppolo and the 49ers agreed to a restructured one-year contract that will keep the QB in San Francisco this season, per sources. The contract contains no-trade and no-tag clauses, assuring Garoppolo will remain in SF this season and have the freedom to leave in 2023. pic.twitter.com/2tj0dDGgN9
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) August 29, 2022
The issue wasn’t that teams couldn’t use a flawed quarterback who’d been to a Super Bowl and two NFC Championship Games in the last three seasons. It was that they didn’t want to commit to the $25.5 million he’d cost this year if acquired on his current contract. Bringing Garoppolo into the fold would give every team in the league, at worst, the best backup quarterback in the NFL — but that’s not a crown worth eight figures of salary cap space.
Instead, both the 49ers and their quarterback decided his best option was to remain on the West Coast. Garoppolo knows head coach Kyle Shanahan’s system intimately and, for all his flaws, knows how to win games in scarlet and gold; he’s 35-16 as a starter in San Francisco. That’s wildly valuable for a team that will rely on a dual-threat passer who has made three starts between college (at FCS North Dakota State) and the NFL since 2019.
Not $25.5 million valuable, but worth more than $6 million at least:
The #49ers lowered Jimmy Garoppolo's base salary to $6.5M fully guaranteed while giving him a chance to make nearly $10M more in incentives if he's starting. A solid solution. https://t.co/la4T5rNpir
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) August 29, 2022
If Garoppolo fails to hit those incentives he’ll be paid like Teddy Bridgewater. If he boosts that salary into the teens he’ll be a bargain of a starting quarterback.
Either way, the 49ers are getting good value. Garoppolo, who was looking at only $1.4 million in guaranteed money via the prorated bonus from his $137.5 million contract signed in 2019, gets a little more than what he might have made after sliding through waivers. He’ll have the chance to earn much more if Lance gets hurt.
The 49ers couldn’t find a trade partner for Jimmy Garoppolo, but they still found a deal that works. For a team with a young quarterback who has plenty of questions left to answer, that’s a preseason win for Kyle Shanahan and company.
