Many among the media found it entertaining to consider the San Francisco 49ers as a potential destination for quarterback Tom Brady. That didn't happen, and it was probably a far-fetched idea to start with.
While Brady possibly liked the idea of heading to a Super Bowl contender and the team he cheered as a child, one 49ers source never understood why the chatter existed in the first place.
"I don't know why that was a thing," the 49ers source told Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.
If Brady signing with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers didn't convince you that San Francisco is committed to quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo — at least for 2020 — then maybe most of his salary for the year becoming fully guaranteed on April 1 will.
$15.7M of Jimmy Garoppolo's 2020 salary is now fully guaranteed. The 28 year old can make $25.2M this season, bringing his three year total w/ the #49ers north of $85M, a total that ranks 8th among active QB contracts. https://t.co/5IOU910hTC
— Spotrac (@spotrac) April 2, 2020
As Spotrac notes, Garoppolo can earn $25.2 million in 2020. After that, he is scheduled to make about the same amount in each of the remaining two years of his contract and will count $26.6 million against the salary cap this year.
The 49ers signed Garoppolo to a five-year deal in 2018 worth up to $137.5 million and he will have earned $85.75 million of that total after this season.
Garoppolo leading the 49ers to a Super Bowl during his first full season as a starter hasn't silenced his critics, though. If anything, the Niners relying heavily on their run game in the playoffs and the team's fourth-quarter Super Bowl collapse has, in his critics' minds, strengthened their case.
One of Garoppolo's most vocal critics has been ESPN personality Stephen A. Smith, the host of First Take. It recently prompted 49ers tight end George Kittle to defend his quarterback during an interview on the show.
Smith often points out that you have to go down many layers of reasons why the 49ers are so good before you get to Garoppolo, and therefore can't give too much credit to the quarterback for the team's success.
"It's not his fault he's on a really good team with good football players and a great head coach," Kittle responded. "He got us to the Super Bowl, so that's what I'm saying. It's not his fault he has Nick Bosa, he has five first-round D-linemen, he has Richard Sherman in the secondary. That's not his fault.
"He goes out there and he performs week in, week out. Like I said, leads the league in third-down percentage. He makes throws. He won us two games versus Arizona. He won us the Rams game at the end of the game. He won a shootout with Drew Brees, who, in my opinion, is one of the best quarterbacks to do it. I mean, he shows up every single week."