SF 49ers: What if Patriots never traded Jimmy Garoppolo

Domino No. 2: Tom Brady and Cam Newton

The current state of quarterbacks between the Patriots, Buccaneers, and SF 49ers is all due to the Jimmy Garoppolo trade. But without that trade, the situation would have been much different.

If Garoppolo had remained in New England, and Tom Brady was essentially ushered out in the prototypical Bill Belichickian manner, then Brady would have had his choice of teams like the 49ers, Vikings, Denver, and Washington to choose from.

But given Kyle Shanahan’s connection to Kirk Cousins, it’s fair to say that without Garoppolo, the former Washington QB might have ended up wearing a jersey number other than No. 8, which is retired for SF 49ers legend Steve Young.

So that takes the 49ers off of Brady’s list, even though there’s a better chance that the Niners might have been more interested in him two years ago than they were this past offseason with Garoppolo in place as the starter.

For the sake of argument, let’s assume Cousins goes to San Francisco. Brady is unlikely to go to Denver because the competitor in him probably wouldn’t allow him to follow the same path as his longtime rival, Peyton Manning, who left the team who drafted him and went on to sign with the Broncos.

Washington is equally unlikely because of the state of the franchise, both then and now, would be a complete about-face from the New England franchise he’d spent his entire career in up to that point.

This leaves Brady more than likely donning the purple and gold of the Minnesota Vikings and getting to chance to elevate a team that featured what was then a top of the league defense but a less than stellar offense to potential Super Bowl contention.

As for Cam Newton, even in this hypothetical, he wouldn’t leave Carolina until two more seasons have passed, but assuming most everything else comes to pass, he’s still a free agent coming off a few major injuries heading into the 2020 offseason.

New England is now out of contention for his services with Garoppolo running the show. And provided the Cousins’ experiment hadn’t completely derailed, so too are the 49ers. Ditto for Minnesota.

That leaves a few options.

Newton could become a Buc after Jameis Winston is run out of town, although without Brady, the likelihood is higher Tampa Bay takes a quarterback in the draft, meaning Newton’s long-term future there isn’t in better shape than it is now.

Another option is that he, rather than Winston, goes to New Orleans to be the low-priced, prove-it deal backup to Drew Brees that Winston did, hoping for a chance to start when called upon.

Either case is good for him because he stays in the NFC South and gets two chances a year to prove to the Panthers that they made a mistake.

So this leaves Garoppolo as a Patriot, Brady as a Viking, and Newton will head to Tampa Bay to run Bruce Arians’ offense and stick it to Carolina.