4 worst mistakes John Lynch, 49ers made during NFL free agency

49ers worst NFL free agency move No. 1: Not moving Jimmy Garoppolo

One of the highlight points of the offseason was going to be the Niners trading quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo amid what was supposed to be a weak market for quarterback-needy teams.

But that market ended up exploding with names like Matt Ryan going from the Atlanta Falcons to the Indianapolis Colts, Deshaun Watson going from the Houston Texans to the Cleveland Browns, and Russell Wilson going from the Seahawks to the Broncos.

Garoppolo, for whatever the reasons, remains with San Francisco.

Perhaps it was the shoulder injury. Perhaps it’s the fact few teams wanted to offer up much, if anything, for an aging and oft-injured quarterback with notable limitations on the field.

Whatever the case, the 49ers are still stuck with nearly $27 million in owed money to Garoppolo in 2022.

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It doesn’t look as if the Niners will move him anytime soon either, rather sticking to the plan they can eventually trade him sometime even though doing so prevents them from using $25.5 million in freed-up money if they outright released him amid a dwindling market.

Teams normally do the opposite of what San Francisco is doing, trying to trade a player, and if it can’t, releasing him instead.

However, the 49ers aren’t doing themselves many favors by holding onto Garoppolo and preventing themselves from engineering push-over-the-top deals like signing Bobby Wagner, D.J. Reed or other notable free agents.