If Tom Brady leaves the Patriots, Jimmy Garoppolo would be a wild solution

Jimmy Garoppolo might be a Patriots’ trade target, if Tom Brady leaves New England.

What if San Francisco 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch prove flight risks for quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo this offseason?

Garoppolo’s limited performances this season may leave the 49ers wanting more, and they have an easy out of his massive contract. They can trade him or outright release the QB with relative ease. It’s a wild and unlikely scenario — even if there’s a sound argument for the 49ers executing it, say, to land quarterback Tom Brady.

If Garoppolo is available, would New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick want trade-backs?

The Patriots coach has stayed in touch with Garoppolo, who helped the 49ers reach Super Bowl LIV last Sunday. If Lynch and Shanahan feel they can do better than Garoppolo, perhaps Belichick will see if he can bring Garoppolo back to New England where he started his career as a 2014 second-round pick.

Of course, this scenario would only be possible if Brady doesn’t return to the Patriots. Brady is set to enter free agency this offseason, but could find his way back to New England, which is reportedly ready to bid in excess of $30 million per year. It’s likely Brady can get more than that on the open market in free agency, so time will tell whether he is ready to give the Patriots a hometown discount. If he doesn’t and he elects to leave, Belichick will need to find a quarterback.

At least for New England, Garoppolo is actually a logical solution.

If there was a weak link on the 49ers, it was their quarterback – who barely passed the ball in the divisional round and the NFC championship game. When the Kansas City Chiefs forced him to make plays against a defensive front built to stop the run, Garoppolo faltered, completing 65% of his passes for 214 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. It begged the question: Are the 49ers built to run because they were afraid to let Garoppolo pass? The Super Bowl looked like yet another game where Shanahan didn’t trust Garoppolo to take over and lead the offense. That’s why they would trade him. His deal is actually one of their biggest cap problems, as they have just $20 million to spend this offseason, with a significant pending free-agent class in 2020 (Emmanuel Sanders, Arik Armstead and Jimmy Ward) and in 2021 (George Kittle, DeForest Buckner and Richard Sherman).

Garoppolo appears to have an out in his contract before the 2020 season, but the 49ers aren’t likely to cut him. His contract makes him the fifth-highest cap hit among quarterbacks, but he’ll shift down that list this offseason when Dak Prescott gets a new deal and if Patrick Mahomes gets an extension. Drew Brees and Tom Brady are also likely to push the market. Garoppolo’s deal won’t look quite so horrifying as the quarterback contract market continues to float upward. The 49ers will want to keep him — or trade him for the right price. Perhaps Belichick would be willing to bid the proper value in draft picks, especially if Brady leaves.

Public consensus is down on Garoppolo, and justifiably so. At 28 years old, he has shown only small signs of being more than a system quarterback in New England and San Francisco. But Belichick adores Garoppolo. Perhaps the coach thinks that’s enough to serve as the successor to Brady.

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