Stats & Eggs: Shanahan expects Jimmy G. to start in 2021...or does he?

As I’m sure will happen a million times between now and the start of the 2021 league year, Kyle Shanahan was asked about the future of Jimmy Garoppolo with the 49ers at yesterday’s press conference.

Here is the quote that has made its way around the world three times by now:

“I expect Jimmy to be our starter next year. I expect him to come and play with us this year. We have six games left, we’re not out of the playoffs yet. I’ve been on a team that was 3-6 going into a bye week that ended up winning their division. We have guys on this team capable of finishing this the right way. We’ve got to do it one game at a time. I hope Jimmy can come back and be a part of that.”

Ignoring the fact that Kyle Shanahan’s, “expectations” five months before he’ll have to make a decision on Garoppolo are utterly meaningless, here is the second part of the quote that completely invalidates part one above. For some reason it seems to have been ignored by people:

“To think that we’ve made any decisions on anybody going into the future isn’t the case. Jimmy’s won a lot of games for us this year. It’s a lot harder to win games when he’s not here and we’re just hoping we can get him back.”

There it is. That’s the head coach literally saying no decisions have been made. The entire answer was 30 seconds long. If Jimmy was coming back in 2021, it wouldn’t have taken 30 seconds for Kyle Shanahan to say that. Remember when Bill Belichick was asked if there was any way Jimmy Garoppolo could supplant a suspended Tom Brady in 2016?

“Jesus Christ.”

Two words, and a potential quarterback issue was squashed forever. Kyle could have done that, but he chose not to. You know, just like the 49ers have chosen not to restructure Garoppolo’s contract.

For more evidence of why Jimmy will be gone in 2021 and to find out about a huge bullet the team is going to dodge on their bye week, check out today’s Stats & Eggs podcast. It’s available for you right here on this page, and you can also click on the “following” button to subscribe and make sure you don’t miss a single episode.