49ers news: 3 trade rumors that are too crazy to be true

It’s your guess where some of these 49ers rumors stemmed from, but let’s break down why they’d each be too crazy to be true heading into 2022.

As if there wasn’t enough to talk about with regards to the San Francisco 49ers so far during the 2022 offseason.

And if there wasn’t enough to discuss across the entirety of the NFL amid what has to be the craziest offseason in recent memory.

True, the Niners’ own storylines haven’t dominated quite as much as the blockbuster trades for players like quarterbacks Russell Wilson and Deshaun Watson, wide receivers Davante Adams and Tyreek Hill and an array of other moves and non-moves. Yet San Francisco’s inability to trade quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo certainly fueled plenty of discussion points.

Not surprisingly, it created plenty of NFL rumors in the process, too.

Perhaps some of those are believable. Yet it’s the time of year when rumors run rampant, and some of these can flare up and become storylines themselves.

Even if they’re nowhere close to being true.

Let’s comb over some of the more egregious rumors out there surrounding the 49ers and break down why they’re, well… egregious.

Rumor No. 1: 49ers trade Jimmy Garoppolo to the… Seahawks?

Perhaps it’s not a wholly unsubstantiated rumor here, rather a suggestion in what’s been a diminished market for Jimmy G.

The Seattle Seahawks, poised to start quarterback Drew Lock in the wake of Wilson’s trade to the Denver Broncos, are one of three teams in need of a starter, and Garoppolo could fit the bill, at least feasibly. Heck, it’s even something the San Francisco Chronicle’s Eric Branch addressed not long ago.

Here’s why the notion is crazy, though, as Branch even admitted:

1. Inter-division trades are extremely rare
2. If the Seahawks are truly in rebuild mode, why would they dish out draft capital and take on $25.5 million in post-trade salary for a middle-of-the-road quarterback?
3. 49ers know Garoppolo has an intimate knowledge of head coach Kyle Shanahan’s offense, so why would they risk him sharing that to Seattle?

Sure, there’s the joke Garoppolo’s struggles with the Niners over the years could feasibly help San Francisco if he’s committing them with the Hawks instead.

But to think any team would try engineering that kind of deal with that as a goal would be tomfoolery.