5 quarterback options for SF 49ers in wake of Matt Stafford trade
By Peter Panacy
With the LA Rams landing Matthew Stafford from the Lions, the SF 49ers are now stuck with these remaining quarterback options for 2021.
Well, the SF 49ers can cross off soon-to-be former Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford from their potential offseason wish list.
On Saturday, the Lions and LA Rams engineered a blockbuster deal for the soon-to-be 33-year-old Stafford, who didn’t want to go through yet another rebuild in Detroit and now finds himself within the NFC West on a Rams team that had made the playoffs in three of the four years under head coach Sean McVay.
For Stafford, it’s an ideal situation. And the Niners now have to face the reality of squaring off against a Stafford-led Rams team at least twice a year.
That’s a loss for San Francisco, which now arguably has the worst starting quarterback within the division and one less option towards making an upgrade.
But what are those other options? Niner Noise looks at five quarterbacks head coach Kyle Shanahan and Co. can consider in 2021 in the wake of the Stafford trade to Los Angeles.
SF 49ers Option No. 5: Jimmy Garoppolo
The speculation surrounding the SF 49ers’ current starter, Jimmy Garoppolo, has been going on ever since Super Bowl LIV, and this offseason has proven to be quite the hot seat for the quarterback.
If there’s a plus, the Niners don’t need to move on from Jimmy G this offseason. He’s still signed through 2022 but at a cost of $26.6 million this season. Should San Francisco move on from Garoppolo anyway, it’d save $24.1 million in much-needed cap space which, in turn, could be used to sign a sizable chunk of nearly 40 pending free agents, many of them high-profile names.
That said, it would be a gamble to go with Garoppolo, who has missed the bulk of two of the last three seasons with injuries and hasn’t exactly taken Shanahan’s offense to the desired levels equivalent to a true franchise-elite signal-caller.
If there’s a bonus, though, Garoppolo knows the offense and has had success within it, namely from 2019.
As long as the team stays relatively healthy, Garoppolo isn’t the worst option the SF 49ers have.