Jimmy Garoppolo: 4 reasons why no one is trading for 49ers QB

The 49ers rapidly watched the market for Jimmy Garoppolo dry up, and here are four critical reasons why teams aren’t trading for him right now.

The NFL quarterbacking dominos are starting to fall rapidly a full week after the league new year and the paralleling start of free agency began.

But one of the missed dominos that failed to fall was still-San Francisco 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo.

The Niners were easily in a great position to trade him this offseason. He was coming off his second NFC Championship appearance in three years amid a market not good for quarterback-needy teams, either via free agency or the NFL Draft.

Pro Bowlers like Aaron Rodgers and Russell Wilson were expected to be the first dominos to fall, Rodgers staying with the Green Bay Packers, while Wilson was off to join the Denver Broncos.

Yet Garoppolo wasn’t immediately moved thereafter, suggesting one of the reasons why San Francisco is now having trouble moving its quarterback to pave the way for the 2021 rookie No. 3 overall draft pick, Trey Lance, to fully start in 2022. Instead, the Washington Commanders plucked Carson Wentz from the Indianapolis Colts, who eventually traded for Matt Ryan from the Atlanta Falcons, who then grabbed free-agent quarterback Marcus Mariota.

The Cleveland Browns aggressively traded for former Houston Texans signal-caller Deshaun Watson, then put their prior starting quarterback, Baker Mayfield, on the trade block.

The New Orleans Saints, who were in the market for Watson along with Atlanta, elected to re-sign Jameis Winston.

What went wrong?

Niner Noise explores those reasons why the Garoppolo trade market turned south despite there being high hopes for the 49ers getting a substantial return package for him earlier this offseason.