49ers news: 3 trade scenarios to land Falcons WR Julio Jones

No. 1: 49ers dump Jimmy Garoppolo, give Trey Lance a new weapon

For now, all indications point to the Niners letting quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo start in 2021 while their first-round rookie, quarterback Trey Lance, develops into the hopeful starter in 2022. Perhaps even later.

But if San Francisco decided to go all-in on Lance right now, mainly in a move to absorb Julio Jones’ cap hit without having to worry about short- and long-term financial ramifications, cutting Jimmy G would certainly help them do that.

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And if it was done right now, the 49ers would save $23.6 million in cap space, more than enough to take on Jones’ $15-plus million cap hit for 2021 while saving money to extend players like Fred Warner.

Garoppolo wouldn’t be part of a trade package to Atlanta, which is still committed to veteran quarterback Matt Ryan for the time being. With the remaining quarterback market relatively cold, it’s not likely the Niners would get anything for Garoppolo right now anyway.

Instead, San Francisco would likely have to engineer some sort of sizable draft-compensation package, not unlike the aforementioned one including Raheem Mostert but likely tacking on an additional 2023 third- or fourth-round pick in addition to the three already mentioned if Mostert wasn’t part of the deal.

Again, this would hinder the team’s chances of selecting good players and having them on rookie contracts, potentially creating all kinds of cap/roster problems down the road.

But for a player of Jones’ ilk, it might be worthwhile and would give Lance another much-needed weapon as he’s thrust into the limelight sooner than anticipated.