Jimmy Garoppolo: 4 reasons why no one is trading for 49ers QB
By Peter Panacy
Reason No. 2: 49ers vastly overvalued Jimmy Garoppolo
As soon as the Niners aggressively traded up for Trey Lance last year, teams knew fully well Jimmy Garoppolo was a lame duck. One who’d cost an additional $25.5 million and draft assets if those teams wanted to trade for him in 2022.
The same reasons why San Francisco wants to move on are the same as why quarterback-needy teams would be leery about trading for Garoppolo.
For starters, Garoppolo is a 30-year-old signal-caller with average abilities, limited by a relatively weak arm and a knack for late-game collapses in the playoffs, last season’s NFC Championship loss to the Los Angeles Rams being the most recent example.
On top of that, Garoppolo is injury-prone, too, having suffered shoulder injuries during his time with the New England Patriots, a torn ACL in 2018, ankle injuries in 2020 and then both a thumb and shoulder sprain late in 2021.
Read More: How 49ers botched dwindling trade market for Jimmy Garoppolo
The combined setbacks all served to drive Garoppolo’s market southward.
Yet the 49ers, for whatever the reasons, failed to understand the offers out there weren’t meeting what they hoped to get for Garoppolo via trade. They hoped they could play the market. But when that market began to dry up, a merely so-so asset wasn’t something for which another team would be willing to shell out significant compensation.
The Saints re-signing Jameis Winston and the Falcons inking Marcus Mariota cost precisely zero in draft assets.
Putting it bluntly, the Niners needed to read the market better. Particularly in light of the main reason, listed next.