SF 49ers: Exploring 4 options team has for Jimmy Garoppolo in 2021

No. 3: SF 49ers look to trade Jimmy Garoppolo

Simply cutting Jimmy Garoppolo is an option. But both Garoppolo and the Niners would likely benefit from an offseason trade, should that be the route San Francisco takes.

As long as the deal was done before June 1, a trade would allow Garoppolo to keep the same contract he currently has with the 49ers. Sure, he does have a no-trade clause written in for 2021, meaning he’d have to agree to his destination. Yet he’d get that $2.8 million in dead money anyway, and whichever team electing to pick him up in an offseason trade would assume the responsibility of paying out his workout and per-game bonuses.

Putting it bluntly, he’d keep his contract value.

From the Niners’ vantage point, they’d be picking up some much-needed NFL Draft capital in return, which will help guard against some likely free-agent attrition this offseason.

So, who could be trade partners?

There’s always the thought Garoppolo’s old team, the New England Patriots, would be interested. Their current quarterback, Cam Newton, is playing nowhere near the level of his 2015 MVP season. And the Pats are scheduled to have $63.6 million in available cap space in 2021, too, making head coach Bill Belichick a realistic suitor.

The Chicago Bears could try luring Garoppolo back to his hometown, as their current quarterbacking woes are certainly holding back head coach Matt Nagy’s offense.

Either way, should San Francisco look to trade Jimmy G, a bidding war would only be beneficial to increase that draft-pick value.