The San Francisco 49ers decision to trade for quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo leaves both sides with some decision to make regarding the quarterback’s future. Over the weekend, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported the 49ers were open to a variety of options, including potentially franchising and trading Garoppolo next spring.
John Lynch made his bi-weekly appearance on KNBR, and was asked about the report, and what the plan was with Garoppolo. He focused on why they made the deal in his initial response.
“Well let me try to tell you where we’re coming from, because that’s what I can do. I can tell you that when that opportunity presented itself, and Kyle and I started talking about it, like I said from the beginning, it was about ten minutes in that we told ourselves, this is a no-brainer. This is something we have to do because, number one, we’re huge believers in Jimmy Garoppolo, and his ability to be a franchise quarterback — so much so that we inquired throughout this last offseason, and was quickly shut down by Bill Belichick. But we did inquire as to his availability.
“So, we’re huge believers in what he brings to the table. And I can’t speak for Adam [Schefter], but I will say that during the conversations that Kyle and I had, and then you bring Paraag in, you start going through all the reasons why it’s a good idea. And for that alone it was a great idea for us. But at the end, as kind of a throwaway, said, look it, if all you’re doing is acquiring a chip that a lot of people see valuable, then it’s a good deal for that. But, what I think is clear and what needs to be communicated to our fanbase is that we have great belief, and that’s only been strengthened in his week that he’s been here — because he does some special things on the practice field, and he does some special things in the meeting room. Is there some unknown? He hasn’t played a ton of football, we’re fully aware of that.
“But we feel, and I think a lot of people throughout this league feels like we got a tremendous deal on a guy that has all the makings of a franchise quarterback. We’re thrilled to have him, and that’s what Jimmy Garoppolo is to us.”
The hosts followed up by specifically asking about Schefter’s leak, and the front office’s intention of avoiding such leaks.
“I’m pretty confident on this one that this one wasn’t from us. Schefter did — these guys are unbelievable — he had the story early because Kyle and I are down there, and next thing you know, he’s on the line. So, there was communication. But I can tell you that what’s important is what we believe. And we believe Jimmy Garoppolo’s gonna be our guy.
“We also feel very strongly, taking a page out of the Patriots book, what they’ve been doing, that we don’t have the greatest quarterback of all time like they may in Tom Brady, but we feel like we have a really strong room now. Because you had to Jimmy Garoppolo, C.J. Beathard who likely will start this week, and a guy who we felt strongly enough to draft in the third round. We feel like we have a really good situation in that arena, at that position, which is just so important for years to come.”
The 49ers have made it clear they want him to be their franchise quarterback. There was plenty of talk during the introductory press conference about taking things day-to-day, but Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch both want Garoppolo to be the guy they can build around.
That being said, I won’t rule out the possibility of anything with regard to player transactions. They will trade or release anybody they need to if they think it will improve the team. I think Garoppolo ends up getting an extension, but this front office has proven they are not afraid of making bold moves.