Garafolo says Jimmy Garoppolo is staying with the 49ers in 2021

On Saturday, we saw NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo go on television and say that his sources have heard the 49ers plan to move forward with Jimmy Garoppolo next season:

At first, nobody knew what to make of Garafolo after the Stafford to 49er rumors had been running rampant the past two weeks.

Then, late Saturday night, the Los Angeles Rams acquired Matthew Stafford from the Lions. The Rams unloaded Jared Goff, and while Los Angeles won’t have a first-round pick for eight years, McVay continues to get his team to the playoffs year in and year out.

There’s no way the 49ers are giving up that much draft capital for Stafford. I could only imagine the anger this morning if Stafford had been traded to San Francisco. We don’t have to play that hypothetical anymore.

On Saturday morning, former ESPN reporter Josina Anderson tweeted:

The 49ers weren’t going to be the sucker. However, it should be noted that one of those first-round picks was likely due to offloading Goff’s contract. NFL Network’s Peter Schrager reported that Stafford wanted to play for the Rams.

Matt Maiocco said that he heard the 49ers weren’t serious players as of a couple of days ago in regards to acquiring Stafford. Maiocco said he doesn’t doubt the Niners were interested early on, but they weren’t going to go “all-in” like the Rams chose to.

It’s Sunday morning, and Garoppolo is still the 49ers quarterback. The Texans have said they have no interest in trading Deshaun Watson. Garoppolo isn’t going anywhere unless an upgrade comes along at an affordable cost for San Francisco. I don’t believe there’s a cost that Watson isn’t worth, but he’s the only quarterback you could say that for.

If not Watson, it would seem like the Niners would go with our first offseason plan where Garoppolo starts the season, and the 49ers draft a rookie early in the NFL draft.