How Jimmy Garoppolo, 49ers take advantage of Browns QB situation

With quarterback Baker Mayfield traded to the Panthers, the number of teams the 49ers could move Jimmy Garoppolo to is dwindling. But the Browns are still in play.

Some takes age horrifically to such an extent that you have to wonder exactly how it all came together in the first place.

Such as my article, one which advocated for a straight-up Baker Mayfield and Jimmy Garoppolo quarterback swap between the San Francisco 49ers and the Cleveland Browns.

While the logic is still sound, it became irrelevant after Cleveland finally decided to ship Mayfield to the Carolina Panthers Wednesday afternoon.

Literally minutes after my suggestion went live. How about that?

Well, it’s time to pivot, because the Browns still make the most sense as far as trading Garoppolo is concerned. It could even come with slightly better consequences as far as the cap is concerned, too.

And the Niners can take full advantage here. They should.

Browns still make sense as 49ers trade partner for Jimmy Garoppolo

The bottom line for Cleveland remains the same: Quarterback Deshaun Watson, in the wake of allegations of off-field sexual misconduct and facing a hefty suspension, may not step onto the field for a long time, if ever, and the Browns’ gamble to trade what can only be described as a ransom to have him lead what is a very talented team to the playoffs is looking like it’s backfiring disastrously.

For the short term, at least.

The NFL potentially wants Watson suspended indefinitely, and more likely than not, he could be suspended for a season as soon as this week.

This is more significant than you’d expect.

The Browns enjoy more than double the cap space of any other team after the Mayfield trade, and while they’re on the hook for most of the money to convince Carolina to deal for Mayfield, they’re still almost $50 million in the black at the time of writing.

However, in 2023, this takes a sudden turn as Cleveland will have the third-worst cap room at over $30 million over the cap. In 2024, the Browns will be in the black again, but at under $1 million in cap room and by far the worst projected cap in the entire league.

In short, they’ll need to make serious cuts, and they’ll be coming after this year. They pushed their chips into the middle of the table and suddenly found they don’t have the winning hand amid Watson’s uncertainty.

Garoppolo is not an elite quarterback, but he’s shown he can lead talented teams to the playoffs and even the Super Bowl. The 49ers will happily take some of the cap hit if it means a relatively good NFL Draft pick back in exchange and getting the quarterback-controversy distraction of Garoppolo off from Trey Lance‘s back.

Related Story: 3 creative Jimmy Garoppolo trades 49ers can still engineer

The Browns need a Plan B and Garoppolo can be that. His contract ends this season, so he won’t burden Cleveland’s cap space in the future.

In return, the Niners finally get some sort of return on the Garoppolo trade saga and get some much-needed cap relief, too.

And also, they can close the book on the Garoppolo era and officially let the Lance era begin unencumbered.

Garoppolo to Cleveland, it’s still a deal that makes a lot of sense for both teams.