On the night of October 30, just as Monday Night Football was preparing to begin, the San Francisco 49ers and New England Patriots were finalizing a deal to send prized backup quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo to the Niners in exchange for what will be a high second-round pick in the 2018 Draft.
However, the above headline is not to fool you into thinking the Patriots got screwed. This exchange was really beneficial for both organizations. New England feels they can last a few more years with Tom Brady playing at a high level, and they were going to have to pay Garoppolo an elite starter’s salary to remain a backup after this season. Maybe Brady and Belichick will retire together in a couple of years, so why not right now if in 3 years you’re not going to care who the next starting quarterback is?
San Francisco is again at the bottom of the NFL standings, so that second-round pick will be one of the top picks on Day 2 of the draft…a coveted spot for NFL teams, and one They have to give New England the flexibility to move up or down in the draft if they choose. They also send “Jimmy G” across the country and to the NFC, so he can’t torment their future playoff hopes.
As for the 49ers, they just acquired a potential franchise quarterback for the next 10 years if it works out. And if you think about it, they didn’t really give up anything to do it. As I mentioned earlier, they will certainly have a top pick next April. When you combine the fact that nearly half the league could be looking for new quarterbacks in 2018 with the notion that several of the best off-the-board college prospects are expected to be quarterbacks, it allows the general manager John Lynch a variety of options.
Garoppolo has the rest of the 2017 season to prove he can fill the much-needed franchise quarterback role. If he does, and the Niners can get him to a long-term contract, then Lynch can use that first pick to trade, even a spot or two, and certainly get a lot of picks in return. If any team knows about this, it’s San Francisco. As it was only last spring that they received 3 draft picks from the Chicago Bears (to draft QB Mitchell Trubisky), only to drop one spot… and still got the player they wanted.
The 49ers could easily reacquire that second-round pick they gave up to get Garoppolo, and more, as teams stumble their way up to the top of the draft in hopes of landing one of those highly sought-after QBs. Another brilliant job from John Lynch in his first year as General Manager.