Kyle Shanahan gives no guarantees Jimmy Garoppolo will remain through draft weekend
If it wasn’t already crystal clear, the 49ers are going to take a quarterback with the No. 3 pick in Thursday’s NFL draft.
What’s less clear is the immediate future of incumbent starter Jimmy Garoppolo.
There’s a reasonable chance the 49ers trade Garoppolo during the draft, leaving the starting job up to whichever rookie head coach Kyle Shanahan takes.
Shanahan during a 30-minute Zoom call Monday was asked if he could assure Garoppolo would be on the team after the draft on Sunday.
“I can’t guarantee that anybody in the world will be alive Sunday, so I can’t guarantee who will be on our roster on Sunday,” Shanahan said.
There’s a long-held belief Shanahan is going to draft Alabama signal caller Mac Jones, who is considered by many the most ready to start of three quarterbacks San Francisco is likely to take. That’s assuming the Jacksonville Jaguars do the expected and take Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence first overall, followed by the New York Jets tapping BYU’s Zach Wilson second.
Shanahan could decide to keep Garoppolo if the team takes North Dakota State quarterback Trey Lance, who is viewed as the second favorite behind Jones. Lance, of course, only played in one game last season due to the pandemic and has made just 17 starts against lesser competition at the FCS level. He may have the higher athletic upside than Jones, but his inexperience could force him to sit and develop during his first season.
General manager John Lynch, sitting to Shanahan’s right on Monday, said he’s been in contact with Garoppolo, who has been participating in the virtual offseason program.
“Jimmy’s been a pro. He really has,” Lynch said. “I think one thing we’ve always tried to do with all our players and Jimmy as well, is just be very up front and honest. And with what we’re doing and why we’re doing it, and my experience as a player, when people do that, you can live with that.”
Shanahan reaffirmed what he’s said about Garoppolo since trading three first-round picks and a 2022 third-round pick to the Miami Dolphins to move up nine spots for their new quarterback. According to the coach, the bigger issue with Garoppolo is his inability to stay on the field more than his play. Garoppolo has missed 23 starts over the last three seasons, including 2018 and 2020 that were washed out largely because of Garoppolo’s ACL tear and multiple high ankle sprains.
“The biggest thing with Jimmy is his injuries,” Shanahan said. “It’s been very tough for us when he’s been hurt. And it’s happened two out of these three years. And that’s where it starts and Jimmy knows that. I’ve been very upfront with him about everything.”
At the time of the trade, Shanahan mentioned the Patrick Mahomes-Alex Smith dynamic with the Kansas City Chiefs from 2017 when the Chiefs traded up to take Mahomes and let him marinate behind Smith for a season. There was no such mention on Monday as the possibility remains Garoppolo could get shipped elsewhere to make way for the rookie. Though Shanahan was noncommittal about Garoppolo’s future.
“I’m not going to set anything in stone but I know that’s a situation that it would be hard to get rid of,” Shanahan said of Garoppolo, whom he gave a five-year, $137.5 million contract to in 2018. “I mean, when you take a rookie quarterback and you have a veteran like Jimmy who we know we can win with, just to move on from that is something that is not easy to do. That is a good situation for us and I think that’s something that will be important to us this year.”
49ers to pick up option on Mike McGlinchey
Right tackle Mike McGlinchey didn’t have the year he wanted to in 2020 after showing promise during his first two seasons. But that hasn’t swayed the 49ers from showing faith in the ninth overall pick from the 2018 draft.
Lynch confirmed the 49ers will pick up the fifth-year option on his contract which fully guarantees him $10.88 million for 2022.
“We’ve talked with Mike’s representative and we are going to pick up that fifth-year option,” Lynch said. “(I) don’t know exactly — I’ve been focused on the draft — but have let them know that our intention is to pick that fifth-year option up.”
This story was originally published April 26, 2021 at 2:50 PM.
