49ers seemingly had Jimmy Garoppolo trades lined up before QB’s surgery

At long last, the Jimmy Garoppolo saga is over. San Francisco 49ers fans can rest easy knowing Garoppolo is locked into the Bay Area for another year after he agreed to rework his contract following months of trade and release speculation.

A former surefire lock to get traded or released by the start of the 2022 regular season, Garoppolo’s new-look contract now has a no-trade clause … though that doesn’t mean it’s impossible for him to get dealt. Garoppolo would simply have to be included in such talks and agree to the deal.

Funny how things work out.

In the end, the 49ers couldn’t find a willing buyer. The Seahawks made the most sense as a destination from a personnel standpoint, but San Francisco was never going to strengthen a rival, even though Seattle is widely expected to finish last in the loaded NFC West this year.

The question every 49ers fan is wondering is which teams, if any, expressed interest in acquiring Garoppolo. That remains unclear, and we may never know, but the QB himself confirmed there was interest in his Thursday press conference.

The 49ers seemingly had trade(s) lined up for Jimmy Garoppolo before the QB’s shoulder surgery.

"“Not to that degree,” Garoppolo told the media as to whether the 49ers received a trade offer for him. “A little different verbiage, I guess you could say, but there was a lot of discussions with other teams.”"

We’re sure several QB-needy teams inquired about Garoppolo’s trade value, but how many — and why a trade didn’t come to fruition — are ultimately the million-dollar questions.

Leave that to GM John Lynch, who was a little less bashful relative to Garoppolo as far as getting into the nitty gritty of the lengthy saga.

"“Yeah, that’s always an interesting question, because it’s not like someone emails you here’s our offer,” Lynch said. “It’s discussions, and what I can tell you is, with great confidence, combine time there were really serious talks with probably two, three teams that I felt like, you’d have to ask them, like this was going to happen. And that’s when that news broke (Garoppolo’s shoulder surgery), and then things went where they went.”"

Sure sounds like Garoppolo’s shoulder surgery derailed the 49ers’ plans to offload the veteran gunslinger, and understandably so. In the end, though, would obtaining a mid-round draft pick — no general manager was offering more than that — really be more valuable than having the league’s best backup QB, who’s done nothing but win with Kyle Shanahan, waiting in the wings if things go awry with Trey Lance?

We believe Lance is destined for stardom, but that may not happen right away. If it doesn’t and the 49ers are forced to make a tough call at any point throughout the season, well, maybe it might not be so tough after all.

Like we said, it’s funny how things work out.

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