The 49ers organization’s public confidence in quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo makes it harder to determine how they may conduct themselves in an uncharacteristically active quarterback market. While Deshaun Watson’s trade request has put a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow and other veteran quarterbacks on teams looking to turn the page at that position, San Francisco’s moves under center this year could be less dramatic than shipping out Garoppolo in favor of a new starter.
Head coach Kyle Shanahan in his season-ending press conference told reporters he believed Garoppolo was part of the team’s core.
“Yes, I want Jimmy back in our core. Good thing he’s not a free agent,” Shanahan said.
That was in line with what he said after the team’s Week 16 win over the Cardinals when asked about Garoppolo’s future, saying he expected Garoppolo to be the starter, but the team wouldn’t pass on an obvious upgrade.
“Now, you look into every avenue and you see if there’s something out there that can get you a ton better it’s the same answer for every position,” Shanahan said in late December. “But look at Jimmy, look what he’s done, look at where he’s at with us financially and we better have a very good answer if you’re going to find something better than that, because Jimmy’s shown in one year that he’s a guy who can take us to the Super Bowl and I also think Jimmy’s going to get a lot better the more he plays.”
It sounds like the 49ers are content rolling Garoppolo, keeping their draft picks and improving a roster that’s due to lose a number of players in a year where the salary cap could become a hinderance in retaining key free agents. A Watson trade could throw a wrench into those plans, but let’s assume for a moment that’s not on the table.
Just because Garoppolo may return as the starter in 2021 doesn’t mean there aren’t quarterback moves to be made. San Francisco struggled last season when backups Nick Mullens and CJ Beathard played, and both are set to hit the free agent market in the offseason. Mullens is restricted, while Beathard is due for unrestricted free agency.
Shanahan was more open to the possibility of making changes at the backup quarterback spot for the first time since 2017.
“So, you have to look into everything when you’re trying to fill out a quarterback roster,” Shanahan said. “We have a starting quarterback, but in order to know where these guys are going to be, we’ve got to get either re-sign the guys we’ve got or see if we can upgrade them through the draft or free agency. In order to do that, you have to evaluate everything, so you know how to stack them and stuff. So, definitely will be looking at a lot more of that stuff this year than we did last year.”
This is where things get particularly interesting for the 49ers. Backup quarterback is an uncommonly important spot on their roster given Garoppolo’s injury history. He’s missed 23 of the team’s last 48 regular season games. In part because of those injuries, he’s yet to establish himself as the team’s long-term answer under center.
The risk of being without their starting quarterback in the middle of a playoff window is too high for the 49ers to simply fill in the quarterback roster with cheap backup options. Additionally, should Garoppolo not answer some of the lingering questions about his ability to adequately conduct the 49ers’ offense consistently, they need to start exploring options for life after Garoppolo.
Finding solutions for those two larger quarterback issues are more pressing for San Francisco than moving on from Garoppolo.
They have the No. 12 pick and enough capital that they could conceivably move up the board for a player in this year’s draft class who could solve the backup QB and long-term QB problem all at once.
Or they could draft a quarterback and go after a free agent like Jacoby Brissett or Ryan Fitzpatrick in an attempt to immediately upgrade the QB2 spot. Neither Fitzpatrick nor Brissett, nor any affordable free agent quarterback is going to carry the 49ers to a Super Bowl, but they’d be capable of winning games should Garoppolo be unavailable for a prolonged period of time.
Exact moves and picks can be debated, but the overall point is that the 49ers’ quarterback room will likely look a lot different last season even if they don’t move on from Garoppolo. In fact, bolstering the depth chart behind Garoppolo is probably a greater priority than putting together a trade for a new starter.
Given how little the 49ers were willing to put on the table in Matthew Stafford trade talks – one report said they didn’t make an official offer once first-round picks were on the table – it’s hard to imagine outside of Watson that they get heavily involved in other potentially available veteran signal callers.
Anticipated changes will come to the 49ers’ quarterback room this offseason, but that won’t punch Garoppolo’s ticket out of the Bay Area.