SANTA CLARA, Calif. — There’s been a last-minute reprieve to Jimmy Garoppolo’s 49ers tenure.
A day before the 49ers reduce their roster to 53 players, Garoppolo agreed to a restructured contract that will keep him on the team as the backup to Trey Lance, a league source confirmed Monday.
Garoppolo was slated to make $24 million in base salary if on the season-opening roster, and, as part of his new deal, he’ll make $6.5 million guaranteed plus incentives that could earn him $16 million, ESPN and NFL Network reported.
A no-trade clause was added to the contract and he can not be franchise tagged after the season, assuring that he can test free agency for the first time in his nine-year career, assuming he is not dealt to another team (at his approval) before the Nov. 1 deadline.
Neither Garoppolo nor any 49ers official was made available for comment. Garoppolo’s agent, Don Yee, did not immediately return a phone message from this news organization.
When training camp opened July 26, coach Kyle Shanahan made it crystal clear this was “Trey’s team.” Still, Garoppolo lingered in the shadows, and while practices went on without him, he threw on a side field to get his surgically repaired right shoulder ready for his next stop.
Garoppolo was not seen doing those side-field sessions at Sunday and Monday practices, as the roster-cut deadline approached.
A year ago, the 49ers intended to redshirt Lance his rookie season, and Garoppolo’s gritty farewell tour allowed that plan to play out, aside from injuries pressing Lance into duty for essentially 2 ½ games. Two days after the 49ers fell in the NFC Championship Game, Garoppolo bid farewell in a press conference over Zoom: “It’s been a hell of a ride, guys. And love you guys. So, see ya.”
Six months later, it’s “hello, again” rather than “goodbye.”
March 8 surgery on his right, throwing shoulder crippled Garoppolo’s trade value. Yet he remained welcome upon reporting to training camp with his teammates. He never observed practices nor attended meetings, but amid his friendly interactions with players and reporters, he showed no discontent about his career being in limbo.
Last week, coach Kyle Shanahan said “any scenario is possible” in terms of Garoppolo’s fate, adding: “I communicate with Jimmy all the time. He looks the same as he always has. He always throws really good, so it looks the exact same.”
Garoppolo’s movie-star looks and cover-boy smile have offered a magical veneer to an up-and-down tenure. He won 35 of 51 starts, including a 4-2 record in their 2019 and ’21 playoff runs that renewed Super Bowl aspirations.
Garoppolo has not spoken on the record to the media since reporting to training camp July 26. He was excused from June’s mandatory minicamp as he rehabilitated his shoulder in Southern California.
“I’ve got a long career ahead of me,” Garoppolo said Feb. 1. “So I’m excited about it. I’m excited about the opportunities to come. I just want to go to a place where they want to win. I mean, that’s really what I’m in this game for. I’m here to play football here, to win football games. And as long as I’ve got that and good people around me, I think the rest will take care of itself.”
Taking care of his shoulder kept Garoppolo from finding a new home this past spring, when the quarterback market was hotter than any in recent memory.
Teams making quarterback changes: the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Cleveland Browns, the Denver Broncos, the Indianapolis Colts, the Atlanta Falcons, the Washington Commanders, the Carolina Panthers and, last but not least, the Seattle Seahawks, whose waffling between Geno Smith and Drew Lock had many speculating that Garoppolo was their ideal target, if he got released.
General manager John Lynch has stated that the 49ers were close to trading Garoppolo before he, with the blessing of the 49ers’ medical staff, elected to have surgery to repair his shoulder, which got injured in a wild-card playoff win at Dallas.
Garoppolo hasn’t been in a backup role since 2017, when he was in his fourth season behind Tom Brady with the New England Patriots, who dealt him on Oct. 30 to the 49ers for a second-round pick.
Back then, Garoppolo bided his time behind C.J. Beathard before a dazzling December debut, when his 5-0 record swayed the 49ers to bypass the franchise tag and instead retain him on a then-NFL record contract (five years, $137.5 million).
But the 49ers’ starting job has been earmarked for Lance since he was acquired with the No. 3 overall pick in last year’s draft. Lance obviously is inexperienced both in the NFL and in college, having played only one full season at North Dakota State, in 2019. This year, Lance has taken every first-team rep at quarterback, from the offseason program through training camp and his two preseason cameos.
Lance had an inconsistent training camp, in terms of stacking successful days, and he had a completion percentage that hovered not much above .500. He produced a perfect 158.3 passer rating in his two series of the preseason opener (4-of-5, 92 yards, touchdowns), and he was 7-of-11 for 49 yards in Thursday’s preseason finale at Houston, where offensive line woes kept him on the move.
Insuring depth at the 49ers’ quarterback position has been a priority of the Shanahan-Lynch regime since Garoppolo tore an anterior cruciate ligament in the second game of the 2018 season. He rebounded to play every game in their 2019 team’s march to the Super Bowl.
While Garoppolo threw to assistant equipment managers (and no actual teammates) on the 49ers’ side field throughout camp, the 49ers’ backup chores were handled by relatively inexperienced quarterbacks, those being Nate Sudfeld and rookie Brock Purdy.
Now the 49ers’ backup is Garoppolo, who won 35 of 51 starts for them, including a 4-2 record in their 2019 and ’21 playoff runs that renewed Super Bowl aspirations but ultimately fell short with fourth-quarter collapses.
