Jimmy Garoppolo: Injury conspiracies abound for 49ers quarterback

He looked fine after the 49ers lost to the Titans, but Jimmy Garoppolo suffering a serious hand injury has led to some pretty wild conspiracies.

Another week, another controversy surrounding San Francisco 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo.

Garoppolo’s shoddy on-field play during the Niners’ prime-time Week 16 loss to the Tennessee Titans did him no favors, but the chatter surrounding his abilities is nothing new. It’s also not new to discuss his injuries.

Speaking of the latter, Garoppolo apparently suffered an injury during that game to his throwing hand, which head coach Kyle Shanahan explained to reporters on Monday in the following Q&A sequence:

"Media: As far as Jimmy’s right thumb injury, was that a sort of follow through, pass type of injury where he struck something on a follow through? Shanahan: No, it was on his sack, I believe it was the end of the second quarter, when the guy drove him into the ground. Ended up hitting his thumb on the play. Media: Is the thumb fractured. How’s it healing or what is it looking like? Shanahan: No, it’s a thumb sprain, so I think you guys know how those are. It didn’t feel great today. He wasn’t able to throw today and we’ll see how it is on Wednesday. Hopefully it’ll get better."

Within minutes of Shanahan’s the presser, ESPN’s Adam Schefter corroborated the injury news but contradicted Shanahan’s statements about the fracture:

So tough for the fanbase. Who should it believe?

Was Shanahan trying to cover up his quarterback’s injury? Or has he become so disenfranchised with Garoppolo that he’s willing to mock up a non-existent injury to open the door for San Francisco’s highly prized NFL Draft possession, quarterback Trey Lance?

And who leaked the contradictory report to Schefter?

As you can see, no shortage of conspiracy theory-driving questions here.

Jimmy Garoppolo Conspiracy No. 1: 49ers concocted the injury to start Trey Lance

Garoppolo wasn’t good versus the Titans, throwing two interceptions and nearly a third, while also missing a wide-open fullback, Kyle Juszczyk, for what would have been a walk-in touchdown.

Shanahan, whose acquisition of Lance capped off an offseason-long effort to move on from Garoppolo, finally had enough of his veteran quarterback, right? An injury that didn’t seem apparent at the time, including Garoppolo playing through it, suddenly popping up days later after the game seems suspicious.

Especially, as some within the fanbase pointed out, Garoppolo certainly didn’t appear to favor his throwing hand in the postgame presser:

He even opened a water bottle without discomfort.

A made-up injury could have opened up the door for Lance to start in Week 17 against the Houston Texans, yes, without Shanahan risking further quarterback controversies between the rookie and Garoppolo.

Except, as Niners Wire’s Kyle Madson pointed out in the Twitter thread below, it’s hard to buy into the notion Shanahan and the 49ers would attempt such a thing:

You can possibly question the first few questions. But the statement about Garoppolo “green lighting it” rings true. Knowing full well he’s likely gone from the Niners in 2022, why would he sign off on a fake injury?

No conspiracy to be had here.

Jimmy Garoppolo Conspiracy No. 2: Kyle Shanahan is stubbornly defending his QB

This conspiracy theory is less subtle but a lot more plausible, and there might be some rationale to it.

True, Kyle Shanahan has thrown all kinds of signs he wants to move on from Jimmy Garoppolo, namely with San Francisco being linked to oh-so-many quarterback rumors last offseason and certainly highlighted by the aggressive trade-up for Trey Lance last spring. Rumors were one thing, yet trading away two future first-round draft picks, as well as a Round 3 selection, to move up for Lance should be all anyone needs to know regarding Shanahan’s true feelings about Garoppolo.

That said, Shanahan has also repeatedly stated Garoppolo gives the 49ers their best chance of winning right now, likely including whatever push needed to get into the postseason.

Related Story: Jimmy Garoppolo gaffes vs. Titans reveal why 49ers drafted Trey Lance

Maybe Shanahan didn’t fully know the extent of Garoppolo’s hand injury at the time, either during Thursday’s game or on the Monday press conference (not likely), but it’s also possible Shanahan wanted to downplay the injury as to not raise suspicions about Garoppolo’s health.

One of the root causes why Shanahan wanted to move on from Garoppolo in the first place and an argument that has largely died down, at least for a while, ever since Lance got his only start this season (Week 5 against the Arizona Cardinals) when Jimmy G was out with a calf injury.

Downplaying the injury does make a lot of sense, although the rationale behind it doesn’t necessarily.

Jimmy Garoppolo Conspiracy No. 3: Jimmy G’s camp leaked the news

Teams and front offices aren’t the only entities that leak information to NFL insiders like Adam Schefter. Players and their agents do, too. Heck, even family members and friends leak information.

Check out this notion from Niners Nation’s Rob Guerrera:

This idea suggests Jimmy Garoppolo’s camp, possibly his agent or someone close to him, leaked the severity of the injury to the press despite what Kyle Shanahan said only moments earlier.

Why would Jimmy G do this, though?

There’s actually some rationale behind it. If the Niners pressed an injured Garoppolo into playing over their final two regular-season games and possibly into the postseason, and Garoppolo performed horribly, a minor injury would cast doubts on his post-San Francisco future and the kind of value he’d command on the 2022 quarterbacking market.

With the reported severity of the injury now public knowledge, no matter how Garoppolo plays or even if he does at all, there’s an element to blame now: his fractured hand.

Either way, this suggestion and possible conspiracy suggest whoever leaked the news to Schefter is preparing Garoppolo for his life after the 49ers.

Certainly plausible. Perhaps even necessary, at least on Garoppolo’s part.

And if this proves to be the final chapter of Garoppolo’s tenure with the Niners, it’ll be an unfortunate one, finishing off a team career because of a cloudy injury situation.