San Francisco 49ers: Predicting 2018 starting lineup post Jimmy Garoppolo trade
By Peter Panacy
In the wake of the San Francisco 49ers’ blockbuster trade for quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, Niner Noise predicts how the team’s starting lineup will look in 2018.
By trading for former New England Patriots quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, the San Francisco 49ers have addressed one of their biggest areas of concern heading into 2018.
Still winless this season, the Niners’ current campaign has essentially turned into an audition for next year. No understudy of future Hall of Famer Tom Brady is going to turn San Francisco’s current fortunes around overnight. No, that will come with time.
In making the move, though, general manager John Lynch ensured Garoppolo, not C.J. Beathard, would be the signal-caller for the 49ers next season. It’s also not going to be a prized free-agent target, like Washington Redskins QB Kirk Cousins, or a high-profile collegiate quarterback taken early in the NFL Draft.
Instead, the Niners will be able to use one of their early picks to solve other needs. And with a plethora of cap space available next season, the free-agent market is somewhere to look as well.
In this slideshow, we’ll try to predict how the 49ers will go about formulating their starting lineup in 2018. We won’t pay attention to backups and reserves, rather focus on standard and nickel formations and the players who will suit up in those spots.
There probably won’t be many changes on special teams, so let’s start there.