Jimmy Garoppolo: 5 trade destinations for SF 49ers quarterback

Jimmy Garoppolo Suitor No. 1: New England Patriots

Of course, the Patriots have to be involved in the discussion. Why wouldn’t they be?

As is the understanding with Nick Caserio, Patriots head coach Bill Belichick could easily have eyes on Jimmy Garoppolo after trading him to the SF 49ers way back in 2017. Fans will remember how that panned out, at least according to that news-breaking ESPN article by Seth Wickersham back in January of 2018.

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Especially this part:

"The two quarterbacks were friendly, but Brady — like Joe Montana to Steve Young and Brett Favre to Aaron Rodgers — didn’t see it as his role to advise Garoppolo, even on matters as trivial as footwork, as nobody had helped him during his climb. Garoppolo played well in 2016, starting in place of the suspended Brady, and Belichick began to see Garoppolo as the final piece of his legacy, to walk away in a few years with the Patriots secure at quarterback."

Only it didn’t happen that way. Apparently, Brady and Pats owner Robert Kraft forced Belichick to send Jimmy G to the Niners, and here we are in 2021.

New England is without a starting-caliber quarterback on its roster this year, and there are no guarantees Belichick gets “his guy” during the draft, especially considering the Pats are selecting at No. 15 overall and a good deal of the top-end prospective talent could be gone by that point.

But New England does have a swarm of cap space, $57-plus million, to be exact. And there’s always the thought Belichick will want to get his way in the end, putting Garoppolo in as Tom Brady’s replacement even if it came a full year after the future Hall of Famer left town.

Regardless, Jimmy Garoppolo’s future is going to be a pretty hot topic this offseason, too, and there’s no shortage of potential landing spots for him.