49ers Notebook: Former teammate bashes Garoppolo; Cowherd believes Garoppolo will have a market

Here are two San Francisco 49ers-related storylines that might interest you. Both involve veteran quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo. He will start against the Indianapolis Colts this weekend, returning from the calf injury sustained on October 3. While Garoppolo is the 49ers' starter this season, the team drafted his successor, Trey Lance, in April.

San Francisco will have a decision to make on Garoppolo after this season. Some wonder if the team might even look at opportunities before the November 2 trade deadline.

Former Patriots teammate bashes Jimmy Garoppolo

Don't count former New England Patriots tight end Martellus Bennett among Garoppolo's biggest fans. Bennett bashed his former teammate during an appearance on the Double Coverage podcast with Jason and Devin McCourty. The comments about Garoppolo surrounded the quarterback's performance during Tom Brady's four-game suspension in 2016.

"Bro, we lost two games," Bennett said via NBC Sports Boston (h/t to Pro Football Talk). "One of them was because Jimmy Garoppolo was being a b--ch. He decided not to play right before the game. Jacoby (Brissett) came out and played with a f---ed up thumb and played his heart out, but Jimmy was just being a b--ch about it all.

"That's why he ... you can't win with a b--ch for a quarterback, first of all. That was the whole thing with him: He didn't want to come out and do anything because his agent was trying to protect his body or some s--- like that. Which, I can't fault him for that. But like, you should have made that decision on Thursday. Now it's Sunday.

"So anyways, he's not going out there, so now Jacoby straps up, and we lost to the Buffalo Bills. We shouldn't have lost. It was just last-minute, trying to make adjustments for what Jacoby could do."

Colin Cowherd believes Garoppolo will have a market

Despite what Bennett thinks about Garoppolo, FS1's Colin Cowherd believes the veteran quarterback will have a market whenever the 49ers decide to move on from him.

"Jimmy Garoppolo is going to have a much bigger market when the Niners move off of him," Cowherd said on Friday during his show, The Herd (h/t to Chris Rosvoglou of The Spun).

Cowherd notes that head coach Kyle Shanahan is 24-10 with Garoppolo as his starting quarterback and 7-28 without him. Garoppolo wins a lot of football games. However, staying healthy has been a problem.

Cowherd added that there could be several quarterback-needy teams next year. Deshaun Watson may land with one, assuming he isn't dealt before the November 2 trade deadline. Aaron Rodgers could end up at another. After that, you have a lot of potential draft prospects from smaller schools.

"If you look at Jimmy Garoppolo's numbers, just take his career numbers, every start, folks, you've got to be honest about it," Cowherd continued. "He has a 67 percent completion rate, a two to one TD to pick ratio, and a passer rating of 98.7. He's going to have a market. And I know you don't like him, but he's 26-10 as a starter.

"Again, I have my misgiving about him, and he's constantly hurt … but he will have a market. He's not a bad quarterback. He will absolutely have a market."