After a summer of speculation, the San Francisco 49ers and Jimmy Garoppolo agreed to a one-year restructured deal to keep the quarterback with the team until the end of the season, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter. It might raise some eyebrows, but Garoppolo is an insurance policy for the 49ers despite what they may be telling the press.
The 49ers made the conscious decision prior to the 2021 NFL Draft to mortgage their future by trading up to draft Trey Lance with the third overall pick. Lance sat for most of the 2021 season, only stepping in when Garoppolo missed time with an injury, but the expectation was that it wouldn’t be long before Lance was under center permanently. The 49ers had invested the assets in him, but now they were ready to invest the time in him.
The team narrowly missed out on their second trip to the Super Bowl in four years with Garoppolo under center in 2021. With him, they were contenders, but Garoppolo’s limitations meant there was a capped ceiling on how far they could go. His 7.7 air yards per attempt ranked 21st out of 31 quarterbacks and while Garoppolo is generally viewed as a more conservative quarterback, he had the fourth-highest turnover-worthy play percentage in the NFL at 4.6 percent, per PFF. It’s also worth mentioning that Garoppolo has played just a full schedule once in four possible seasons with the 49ers. When he’s on the field, he’s effective, but injuries likely played a part in the 49ers decision as well.
It didn’t take long this offseason for the 49ers to crown Lance as the new starting quarterback moving forward. He offers so much of which Garoppolo can’t. Lance has a cannon arm, is incredibly mobile and can work out of structure. He’s still just 22 years old and has only 177 pro snaps at quarterback to his name. Lance is still so raw and needs refinement, but with Kyle Shanahan as his head coach, he’s in the perfect place to develop.
Restructuring Garoppolo’s contract and keeping him in the building for another year doesn’t change the 49ers short or long-term picture. Garoppolo gets a fully-guaranteed $6.5 million which could rise to $16 million with incentives. The deal also includes a no-trade clause, which means, if the 49ers do eventually find a trade partner for him, Garoppolo will have the final say on his destination. But the 49ers restructured his contract likely to feel comfortable about keeping him on the team as Lance’s back-up without the heavy financial burden.
They know all they know about Garoppolo, and the front office was still fully invested in making Lance the starting quarterback for the 2022 season and beyond. If Lance struggles early on, there will likely be a few calls to bring Garoppolo in – and it might be tempting considering the 49ers should be pushing for another run in the postseason – but they should relent. And likely will. After all, that’s why they paid so much to get in a position to draft Lance in the first place. They believe in him and the potential they can exert from him.
-Thomas Valentine
Twitter: @tvalentinesport
Photo: Alexander Jonesi. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.