Will the 49ers trade QB Jimmy Garoppolo?
The 2022 NFL Draft starts Thursday, April 28 from Las Vegas and we could have some clarity on the futures of two big-name current NFL quarterbacks by then in the Cleveland Browns’ Baker Mayfield and San Francisco 49ers’ Jimmy Garoppolo.
A quarterback-needy team may not be inclined to trade for one of those two if said club lands the rookie it wanted in next week’s draft. Then again, either Mayfield or Garoppolo could serve as a one-year bridge option to the rookie.
The markets for Mayfield and Garoppolo definitely overlap a bit. The difference is that the 49ers have some leverage in what they are asking for Jimmy G because they could opt to keep him for the 2022 season, while there’s absolutely no way that Mayfield will be on the Browns in Week 1.
We’ve already looked at the odds for Mayfield’s next team, and today we look at Garoppolo’s odds if not the 49ers — who might also be trading star WR Deebo Samuel soon as he has demanded out.
Jimmy G Wins, But …
Garoppolo has an excellent 33-14 record as an NFL regular-season starter dating to his Patriots days and has led the 49ers to a pair of NFC Championship Games, but his limitations were very much on display in this past season’s NFC title game loss to the Los Angeles Rams as well as in the Super Bowl LIV loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. San Francisco could have won both of those games, but Jimmy G made careless mistakes. He’s a game manager, perhaps the final piece on a good roster, and not a true franchise quarterback.
Salary-wise, he’s owed about $25 million in the final year of his deal, but the Niners probably would eat some of that to get better draft compensation back (they will not cut him).
The Houston Texans are +200 favorites to be Garoppolo’s next team. That doesn’t make sense to me because the Texans could have had the younger, cheaper Mayfield in the Deshaun Watson trade and they already have a young QB in Davis Mills. There is the Garoppolo-Patriots connection to the Houston front office.
The Detroit Lions are +250 and Carolina Panthers +275 on this NFL prop. Carolina is the -150 favorite to be Mayfield’s next team and that makes much more sense. Rebuilding Detroit has little need for Garoppolo with Jared Goff there and a QB likely drafted next week.
Philadelphia Eagles (+500): Is Garoppolo an upgrade on Jalen Hurts? Probably not.
Pittsburgh Steelers (+700): This is intriguing because Jimmy G is better than Mitch Trubisky/Mason Rudolph and the Steelers do have a win-now roster.
The other options for Jimmy G’s next team are: Seahawks (+750), Bears (+1200), Saints (+1400), Falcons (+1600) and Jets (+2000). Not much to like there. The Niners aren’t trading Garoppolo inside the division to Seattle even the Hawks even wanted him.
