Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
San Francisco 49ers general manager John Lynch and head coach Kyle Shanahan will speak to reporters before Tuesday’s practice. The main topic will be the team’s decision to sign Jimmy Garoppolo to a restructured one-year deal, keeping the quarterback on the roster and significantly lowering his salary cap figure.
The 49ers now own about $21 million in salary cap space, per Over The Cap. That’s an increase from Monday morning’s $3 million. The deal has reportedly been in the works since last week, but wasn’t revealed until NFL insider Adam Schefter spilled all the glorious details.
San Francisco tried to trade Garoppolo all offseason. This failed miserably. The 49ers aren’t entirely to blame, though. The quarterback shocked the team with his decision to undergo shoulder surgery on March 8. That threw a wrench in Lynch and Shanahan’s plan.
Soon after, the once-booming market for quarterback-needy teams evaporated. The Niners had moved forward with second-year quarterback Trey Lance, last year’s No. 3 overall pick, as the starter. Regardless of where things stood with their former starter, the Garoppolo-49ers marriage seemed set for divorce.
Along the way, the 49ers did what you’d expect. They showed their faith in the 22-year-old quarterback while giving every indication that the 30-year-old quarterback’s time in the Bay Area was over.
Now, Garoppolo is staying, and will serve as a replacement for his former protégé. The news understandably sent social media into a frenzy.
While most see it as a business decision, perhaps the only move available to a team short on options, San Francisco could have released Garoppolo. That would have freed up even more salary cap space, but that could have resulted in Garoppolo signing with the Seattle Seahawks and facing his former team twice this season. It probably wasn’t ideal in the eyes of Lynch and Shanahan.
However, a reporter from the Bay Area sees the situation differently. He sees San Francisco’s decision to keep Garoppolo as a statement about the team’s feelings about the inexperienced Lance.
“This is a fence, plain and simple,” wrote Michael Silver of the San Francisco Chronicle. “And the reason the 49ers are covering is because they’re worried that Lance, despite his promise, won’t be good enough to take their team built to win now to their only acceptable destination: Glendale, Arizona, the next 12 of February, with York hoisting the franchise’s sixth Lombardi Trophy.”
Silver points to Lance’s inconsistent training camp and even the quarterback’s shaky outing during the preseason finale against the Houston Texans as reasons why doubt may have crept into Shanahan’s mind.
“Most worryingly, he had problems with accuracy and consistency,” Silver continued. “At times during OTAs, he looked like a guy who could pass the ball from point A to point B with NFL-caliber competition. At other times, he looked like Ricky (Wild Thing) Vaughn in the first act of the ‘Major League.’ . . . You better believe Shanahan and his assistants were at least a little nervous.”
Silver believes that, along with Garoppolo’s lack of viable options, landed the 49ers where they are now. If things go well with Lance, either through injury or inconsistent play, the team probably thinks Garoppolo isn’t a bad plan B to have.
Click here to read Silver’s full column.
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