49ers have 3 remaining options with Jimmy Garoppolo still on roster
By Peter Panacy
Option No. 3: 49ers can accept whatever offer available for Jimmy Garoppolo right now
Just because the market for Jimmy Garoppolo is dwindling doesn’t mean it’s dead… yet.
There are still teams in need of a starting-caliber quarterback: the Carolina Panthers, Houston Texans and the Seattle Seahawks.
Baker Mayfield still has a lot of influence on how this can all pan out. But even if the Browns trade him to one of those three teams, the remaining two could potentially look to bid on Garoppolo’s services, competing with each other in the process.
A problem, though, is it’d be weird to see San Francisco trade Garoppolo within the division, potentially ruling out the Hawks, while the Panthers wouldn’t send their top draft pick (No. 6 overall) and don’t select again until Round 4.
That leaves a team like Houston with a lot of leverage, assuming the 49ers settle on the Texans as the only viable options with anything worthwhile to trade.
Except the Texans may also be fully inclined to see how their 2021 rookie quarterback, Davis Mills, looks with a full year now under his belt. They’re not overly desperate to make a trade amid what looks to be a massive rebuild.
Still, if one of those teams is offering proverbial “pennies on the dollar” for Garoppolo, the Niners can simply opt to accept whatever they can get right now.