Jimmy Garoppolo didn’t ‘stick it’ to 49ers with shoulder surgery

While it seemed like a plausible move in a chess match, Jimmy Garoppolo opting for shoulder surgery isn’t an obvious poke at the 49ers to derail his trade value.

Time to come up with a logical conclusion: San Francisco 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo and his camp didn’t intend for him to have a shoulder surgery to derail the Niners’ plans to trade him this offseason.

Sure, it seemed absolutely plausible, when news broke Jimmy G was ultimately going to have surgery on his sprained shoulder, that he was doing so to tank his value in order for San Francisco to remain committed to him in 2022.

Or at the very least, a move to force the 49ers into releasing him, thereby allowing Garoppolo to sign anywhere of his choosing as a newfound free agent.

OK, so general manager John Lynch said what the Niners should have said about the surgery, how it was a surprise after the quarterback suffered a sprained shoulder in the NFC Wild Card victory over the Dallas Cowboys.

Yet the fact Garoppolo waited a full month after San Francisco was eliminated by the Los Angeles Rams in the NFC Championship fueled speculation both he and his agent, Don Yee, intentionally did it to “stick it” to the 49ers.

Perhaps a lot of us bit into that notion. After all, Garoppolo could have benefited from being a free agent in a bad offseason-quarterback market, however one which turned into quite the quarterbacking carousel, all to a point to which few could have predicted.

But was it intentional on Garoppolo and Yee’s part to delay the procedure, one which ultimately would prevent him from throwing a football until training camp?

No way. Not when you look at the evidence, which we need to do.