Ever since the 49ers decided to head into the 2022 NFL season with Trey Lance as their starting quarterback, Jimmy Garoppoloās days in the Bay looked numbered. However, as the months went by, the team foundit difficult to move him.
Having faced rehab fromshoulder surgery when most teams were active on the market, by the time Garoppolo was cleared there were not many openings left. In the end, San Francisco seemed to have no option but to release him in order to avoid paying the $24.2 million he was due this season.
But the Niners found another solution. On Monday, the team and Garoppolo agreed to a restructured one-year deal worth$6.5mfully guaranteed that could rise to $16m through incentives.Of course, this agreement took many by surprise, including 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan.
Kyle Shanahan happy that 49ers keptJimmy Garoppolo
āIt was pretty shocking for us,ā Shanahan said, via 95.7 The Game. āWe thought it was a win-win for both sides. ā¦ It makes us a much better team. It seemed like everybody was waiting for us to cut him to see what they could get him for.
āJimmy thought this was the best situation for him, this is obviously a better situation for the 49ers.We have a starting quarterback as a backup. The rest of the league had a chance to get him.
āWe have zero worries about Jimmy not having a playbook. I donāt have one either. ā¦ Heās been rehabbing, heās in great shape. Heās ready to go. ā¦ When I told Trey that Jimmyās coming back, he said, āAwesome.āTrey and Jimmy have a great relationship. Trey is actually grateful to have Jimmy in the building.ā
The idea of keeping Jimmy Garoppolo as backup seemed unlikely a few months back. But things have changed, and this looked like the best solution for all. TheNiners not onlyhave an insurance policy for Lance, but they also avoided letting Garoppolo go for nothing ā possibly to division rivals Seahawks. As for Garoppolo, beingon the bench wasnāt in his plans before but at this point, he didnāt have many options elsewhere.
