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San Francisco 49ers: A pessimistic preview of the Niners’ 2018 season

By Peter Panacy

CHICAGO, IL - DECEMBER 03: Jimmy Garoppolo #10 of the San Francisco 49ers recovers his own fumbled snap against the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field on December 3, 2017 in Chicago, Illinois. The 49ers defetaed the Bears 15-14. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)
CHICAGO, IL - DECEMBER 03: Jimmy Garoppolo #10 of the San Francisco 49ers recovers his own fumbled snap against the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field on December 3, 2017 in Chicago, Illinois. The 49ers defetaed the Bears 15-14. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images) /
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CHICAGO, IL – DECEMBER 03: Quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo #10 of the San Francisco 49ers warms up prior to the game against the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field on December 3, 2017 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Kena Krutsinger/Getty Images)
CHICAGO, IL – DECEMBER 03: Quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo #10 of the San Francisco 49ers warms up prior to the game against the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field on December 3, 2017 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Kena Krutsinger/Getty Images) /

What If Jimmy Garoppolo… (Gulp) Doesn’t Sign in 2019?

As Chris Biderman over at Niners Wire broke down recently, Jimmy Garoppolo could wind up becoming the league’s highest paid quarterback in the NFL this season. To do that, he’d have to surpass Detroit Lions QB Matthew Stafford’s $27 million annual salary, which probably won’t be hard after Alex Smith landed a cool $23.5 million per year from the Washington Redskins on a four-year deal.

If the Niners can’t reach some sort of agreement with Garoppolo this season, they’ll apply the franchise tag. Garoppolo will be under center for the 49ers in 2018.

But what about afterwards?

This is more of a long-term worry. Yet if Garoppolo is playing on the tag for the entirety of this upcoming season, the worry is going to hang over 49ers fans’ heads all year.

Here’s the concern — more than a handful of NFL teams are going to be phasing out quality veteran quarterbacks the next couple of seasons. The New Orleans Saints and Drew Brees, who happens to be a free agent, are on the list. So are those New England Patriots and Tom Brady. Ben Roethlisberger’s days with the Pittsburgh Steelers could be winding down. And what about Philip Rivers down in Los Angeles with the Chargers?

This doesn’t even include QB-needy teams that might be hungry and willing to spend freely on a signal-caller a year from now.

Garoppolo might have his choice to go to a number of teams across the league in 2019, provided the Niners don’t apply the tag twice. But it doesn’t seem likely they would. At least not from the pessimistic standpoint.

More from Niner Noise

OK, so these are all worries. And they’re likely influenced more by just how bad things have been for San Francisco since 2014 and between 2003 and 2010.

Fortunately, there are more than a number of reasons to be excited about the Niners’ prospects for a great season this year.

Next: 5 day two prospects 49ers can consider in 2018 NFL Draft

We’ll get to those in a week’s time, but we hope you enjoyed venting out our concerns for all that could go wrong in 2018.