49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo is having surgery on his throwing shoulder. While the procedure should allow him to be at full strength by the start of training camp, there was some question as to why he didn’t have the procedure immediately after the season.
One early theory was that he was trying to crater his trade value to force San Francisco to cut him and allow him to choose his destination as an unrestricted free agent. General manager John Lynch on Wednesday in a press conference gave an answer on why Garoppolo delayed the operation.
“It was one of those injuries where the recommendation from multiple doctors was let’s try rehab first and see if the pain and some of the other symptoms go away,” Lynch said. “And that was the hope obviously, but that wasn’t the case as time went on. And I think in the last couple days, he had another visit where the decision was made to go ahead and have that surgery.”
Garoppolo injured his shoulder on January 16 when the 49ers defeated the Cowboys 23-17 in the wild-card playoffs. He played through the injury the next two games and offseason rest didn’t allow it to heal properly.
While rest and treatment didn’t work, Lynch said the surgery isn’t considered major/
“Anytime you have surgery, it’s not a minor deal,” Lynch said. “Anytime it’s the throwing shoulder, I understand the significance, but it is described as a minor surgery and Jimmy is going to be fine.”
For the 49ers this could impact Garoppolo’s trade value as the new league year approaches. Suddenly teams are acquiring a QB with a surgically-repaired throwing shoulder. This may knock his market down some as teams shift gears to add a different player. It could also push some teams to tap out entirely on trading an asset for him.
Lynch reiterated though that Garoppolo is still on their roster and talks about a potential trade are ongoing.
“As for the trade, Jimmy’s a part of us right now. A lot of people need or want quarterbacks right now and he’s obviously a guy they’d look at. So, yes, we have listened, but he’s a part of us and he’s going to work diligently to get back from this surgery,” Lynch said. “It’s just preliminary, I haven’t even talked to Jimmy yet. But it sounds like that’s the decision right now to go ahead and have that. And you guys know the same thing I know, which is that he can return to throwing late June, early July and the prognosis is really good. So that’s all good stuff.”