San Francisco 49ers should not trade Jimmy Garoppolo
A franchise quarterback is the rarest commodity in the NFL and that’s what makes San Francisco 49ers QB Jimmy Garoppolo so valuable. Trading him away is not a viable option, even though another beat writer suggests it.
It is not often a team is gifted a cornerstone player. Back in October 2017, that’s what happened to the San Francisco 49ers.
For still some unspecified reason, the team only had to give up a 2018 second-round pick in exchange for Jimmy Garoppolo. We all know what happened next.
Recently, the Press Democrat’s Grant Cohn wrote an article suggesting that San Francisco should trade away Garoppolo for draft picks and then sign Kirk Cousins in free agency. Unsurprisingly, the piece created quite a bit of uproar, considering the fan base is passionate about Garoppolo.
San Francisco 49ers
I’ll begin with this—I do not agree with Cohn’s proposition. That being said, there is one point of argument I would like to point out where there is logic:
"Before the Chiefs traded Smith to the Washington Redskins Tuesday night, the Niners were desperate. They wanted to negotiate a long-term contract extension with their free-agent quarterback, Jimmy Garoppolo, but had no leverage. They needed him. They were all in.Garoppolo was not all in. He was dipping his little toe in the water and gazing around the pool. He never publicly said he wanted to sign a long-term extension with the 49ers. He may prefer to accept the franchise tag, see how things go next season and potentially leave the 49ers in 2019 if the team underperforms in 2018."
Garoppolo very well may not be as warm to the 49ers as the franchise is to him. For understandable reasons, Garoppolo was very reserved in final interviews with media on questions about his future. So, the concern there is justified.
If Garoppolo was only franchise tagged and then did decide to leave in 2019, San Francisco losing him for nothing would be devastating. Garoppolo’s value is quite high right now, and that’s where the situation gets interesting.
What if the Cleveland Browns offered the Nos. 1 and 4 picks in this year’s NFL Draft, plus second- and third-round picks in 2019 for Garoppolo? There are a handful of other quarterback-needy teams out there, but Cleveland has a wealth of assets.
Even then, though, I would not be in favor of trading away Garoppolo. You can’t just trade away a franchise quarterback based on the fact that he might leave. That’s just too risky.
Cohn later attempts to use the complexity of Kyle Shanahan’s playbook as a reason for thinking Cousins is a better fit for the 49ers than Garoppolo. Last season, Garoppolo was playing while learning on the fly.
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And look at the results. That was with barely a month’s worth of preparation.
Yes organized team activities do not start until mid-April. And yes, the league allows for zero communication for these next few months.
But Garoppolo had his first practice on Nov. 1 with the 49ers. A little over a month later, on Dec. 24, Garoppolo and the San Francisco offense put up 35 points on the NFL’s No. 1 defense. Imagine what it will be like when they have a whole summer together. Complexity is not an issue for Garoppolo.
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No combination of picks, plus a lesser player like Cousins, is worth the same value as a potential Super Bowl run. That’s common sense.