Sometimes life comes full circle and it can be a beautiful thing.
For the New England Patriots, the possibility of returning Jimmy Garoppolo would be enormous for the franchise. Not because he’s the best quarterback in the league, but his experience and knowledge of the Patriots’ system would give him a leg up over the other options.
Cam Newton played on a one-year deal worth $1 million for the Patriots and things didn’t pan out as expected for either side. The 31-year-old will likely move on and it isn’t due to a collision of personalities. Newton and Bill Belichick openly confessed their admiration for each other throughout the season. But, Newton threw eight touchdowns and ten interceptions, showing an inability to control things from the pocket.
CBS Analyst Boomer Esiason believes the Patriots will search for a veteran option in 2021. This is where the relevance of Garoppolo comes into play.
“They’ll scour the league. I’m telling you, there will be a couple quarterbacks out there that will be available that we’re not even thinking about right now,” Esiason said Monday on WEEI’s The Greg Hill Show. “It’s hard to project, but I’m sure guys like maybe Matt Ryan or Matthew Stafford could be in play. Jimmy Garoppolo could be in play. Sam Darnold could be in play. Mitch Trubisky could be in play. I’m not sure if any of those excite anyone up there in New England. But at this point, I think it’s all hands on deck, and they have to look at everything. And that’s the most important position, so they have to figure it out.”
The Patriots have the No. 15 overall draft pick and selecting a quarterback for the future in the first round is possible, but doesn’t always work out. Especially when your Hall of Fame head coach is 68-years-old.
“Everybody would love to draft their guy and have a 10-to-15-year run, let alone a 20-year run like Tom Brady had, and get the guy who is going to be the leader of the team for the next decade or so,” Esiason continued. “That would be the prime way of going about it, but then you have to evaluate all the situations, all the deals that potentially come your way, and try to figure out who is available. Is Jimmy Garoppolo available to be brought back?
“It’s a hard thing, but it also goes to show you how vital and how valuable guys like Philip Rivers and Tom Brady really are. Both of those guys moved to new teams, both had to get used to new players, new coaches, and both of those guys took their franchises to the playoffs. So that’s why I say it is a quarterback-centric league.”
Ryan, Stafford, Darnold and Trubisky are all players that are either too old or too inconsistent for Belichick. But, Garoppolo spent three years under Belichick and brought the 49ers to the Super Bowl in his only fully healthy season.
Which brings us to the elephant in the room — Garoppolo has only played more than six games in one season with the 49ers and he’s been there for four. So, how can he be trusted him to stay on the field? He can’t. That’s why ESPN’s Chris Mortensen reported that the 49ers will take a better option at quarterback this offseason if possible.
San Francisco made him the highest paid quarterback in the league and they’re ready to backtrack.
No-brainer move to get Jimmy Garoppolo's inconsistent play and injury struggles out of San Fran. https://t.co/zDhdCKsh8Y
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) January 3, 2021
It’s possible, similar to Newton’s situation, that Belichick can lure in Garoppolo and restructure his contract. The Patriots would have a 29-year-old quarterback that is on a low-risk contract. New England could use a mid-round draft pick to train up a quarterback from this year’s draft, while building on the offensive line.
It still appears that a Garoppolo return is a long shot, but it’s a shot worth taking if the financial situation can be worked out. The Patriots don’t have many options this offseason and they aren’t getting Trevor Lawrence at pick No. 15. It’s time to make some tough decisions and Garoppolo could be one of them.
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