Do San Francisco 49ers fans want to see their team head into the 2021 season with a rookie quarterback as the starter? That's what Anthony Treash of Pro Football Focus is proposing as the Niners' best-case offseason scenario.
Treash looked at all 32 NFL teams and determined a best-case and worst-case scenario for each. He has San Francisco trading up to draft Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields and then trading Jimmy Garoppolo to a quarterback-needy and desperate team.
"Jimmy Garoppolo has proven that he's extremely dependent on scheme and collective supporting cast, and he's also struggled to stay healthy," explained Treash. "The Niners have long been rumored to be in the quarterback market as a result and are very much in play as one of the teams that could trade up for Justin Fields. Kyle Shanahan would love to have a mobile quarterback like Fields, who is also deadly accurate and can open up the downfield passing game. No quarterback to play in both 2019 and 2020 in college football earned a higher passing grade on throws over 10 yards downfield than Fields."
Garoppolo has missed 23 games over the last three seasons due to injuries. The quarterback started all 16 games in 2019, helping guide the 49ers to a Super Bowl appearance, but this past season, he was sidelined 10 games due to ankle injuries. That includes the final eight games.
Garoppolo finished the 2020 season passing for 1,096 yards with seven touchdowns and five interceptions.
Last season, Fields appeared in eight games with the Buckeyes, completing 70.2 percent of his passes for 2,100 yards with 22 touchdowns and six interceptions while adding five rushing touchdowns. That followed up a 2019 campaign that saw the collegiate quarterback toss 41 touchdowns and run for 10 more while throwing just three interceptions.
Then you have Treash's worst-case scenario. That involves a depleted 49ers defensive backfield. Several key players are scheduled to become free agents, including Richard Sherman, Jason Verrett, K'Waun Williams, Jaquiski Tartt, and Ahkello Witherspoon. With the salary cap expected to drop, that leaves general manager John Lynch with a less-than-previously-expected amount of cash to spend on keeping the roster intact.
Without knowing the exact salary cap for 2021, OverTheCap.com estimates the 49ers having about $13.7 million in available funds. Offensive tackle Trent Williams — also an impending free agent — alone will probably require about $20 million per year.
"If Sherman, Verrett and (K'Waun) Williams, in particular, are all unable to be re-signed, San Francisco's secondary would immediately go from one of the best over the last few years to one of the worst in 2021," wrote Treash. "Verrett is coming off an incredible comeback year in which he ranked eighth in PFF grade, and both Sherman and Williams produced a top-10 grade back in 2019 before injuries derailed their 2020 campaigns."