Jimmy Garoppolo is staying in San Francisco. The 49ers and their veteran quarterback agreed to a restructured contract that will keep him in the Bay Area for the 2022 season to presumably be Trey Lance’s backup. This was perhaps the unlikeliest end to a saga that’s been throwing curveballs since the 49ers traded up to No. 3 in the 2021 draft last March. So … now what?
This is nothing if not fascinating.
The 49ers, in a vacuum, made the correct move from a football standpoint. Garoppolo is unquestionably better than either Nate Sudfeld or Brock Purdy. San Francisco now has the best backup QB in the league to provide insulation from injury to Lance, or general lack of production from the starting QB.
The latter of those situations is where this entire thing gets tricky.
Head coach Kyle Shanahan has already indicated plainly “this is Trey’s team,” but words in the preseason fade rapidly once the regular season lights come on.
This is a club that expects to contend for a Super Bowl. How long will Shanahan hold onto his declaration of who the team belongs to? If they’re 0-2 and Lance isn’t playing well, do the 49ers turn to Garoppolo for a Week 3 showdown vs. Russell Wilson and the Broncos in Denver? Do they wait until Week 4 for a home showdown with the Rams on Monday Night Football?
The 49ers were already aiming to thread a tough needle between developing their young, inexperienced signal caller and contending for a Super Bowl. Now they’re trying to thread that needle while Garoppolo’s resumé looms overhead. Surely they wouldn’t have retained the veteran if they weren’t confident in Lance’s mental strength to deal with. On the other hand, Shanahan has consistently iterated that players get better through playing and that Lance just needs reps.
At what point does the team sacrifice those reps and development if they think Garoppolo gives them a better chance to stay in the playoff hunt?
It’s a loaded question on top of an already potentially fragile situation. If this goes haywire, it could have a long-term impact on the player the 49ers mortgaged their future to move up and draft.
Of course, this could also work. This could just be a stroke of genius by Shanahan and the front office to bet on their young QB and their locker room culture.
Lance could just develop at a good rate, stay healthy and the 49ers’ plan works while they pay a backup QB a backup QB salary and then Garoppolo rides off into the sunset as a fully healthy free agent next offseason.
Or Lance could get banged up for however many games and Garoppolo will provide more capable relief than the 49ers have ever had at the QB2 spot. This would be fantastically ironic given that part of the reason the 49ers are moving on from Garoppolo is because he was too often unhealthy and forced them to lean on worse backup options.
This already strange situation is now somehow even stranger. And the 49ers are betting on themselves to navigate it en route to a Super Bowl run.
