San Francisco 49ers Make Surprising Move on Jimmy Garoppolo Ahead of 2022 Season

Jimmy Garoppolo will be with the San Francisco 49ers for one more season. According to multiple reports, Garoppolo and the 49ers agreed to a restructured one-year contract that will keep him in San Francisco this year. The contract continues no-trade and no-tag clauses, and Garoppolo will be a free agent in 2023. According to Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network, Garoppolo will earn a base salary of $6.5 million fully guaranteed. He will have a chance to make nearly $10 million more in incentives if he's the starting quarterback. 

This comes as the 49ers were looking to trade Garoppolo and have Trey Lance as the starter. It's very possible (and likely) that Lance is the starting quarterback as the season kicks off, but the 49ers have a second option if Lance struggles to start the year. In the team's final game of the preseason, Lance completed seven of his 11 passes for 49 yards. For the entire preseason, Lance completed 68.8% of his passes for 141 yards and one touchdown. Garoppolo didn't play in any of the 49ers' preseason games. 

"We have moved on to Trey," 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan told reporters in July. "This is Trey's team. That's nothing against Jimmy. We made that decision a year ago and we're going with that. We're not going to mess around with that anymore. Jimmy understands that fully. That's a business decision and that's what makes it not awkward. Jimmy knows we're going with Trey. Trey knows we're going with Trey and our team does, and everyone likes both of those guys."    

Lance was selected No. 3 overall by the 49ers in the 2021 NFL Draft. He played in six games with two starts last year and threw for 603 yards, five touchdowns in two interceptions with a 97.3 passer rating. Lance also rushed for 168 yards and one touchdown on 38 carries. 

Garoppolo was acquired by the 49ers in 2017 via trade from the New England Patriots. Since joining the 49ers, Garoppolo has led the team to two NFC Championship appearances and one Super Bowl appearance. Garoppolo was selected by the Patriots in the second round of the 2014 NFL Draft and was Tom Brady's backup for three seasons. 

0comments