There will be a market for San Francisco 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo. The only real question is how strong that market will be. Peter King of NBC Sports believes there could be a lot of demand for the 49ers' starting quarterback of the past four-and-a-half seasons.
Of course, that all depends on what happens around the league. A few dominos must fall before teams look at Garoppolo, the first of which is the upcoming decision by Aaron Rodgers. Should he remain with the Green Bay Packers, the next domino might be in Seattle with the status of Russell Wilson. If the Seahawks hold onto their quarterback, too, that would increase the demand for Garoppolo.
Another quarterback name might impact the demand for the 49ers quarterback—Deshaun Watson. King believes that if Watson's legal issues persist, San Francisco might be sitting in a good spot.
"Because nobody's going to want to trade for Deshaun Watson knowing that they don't know when he's going to be able to play," King told 95.7 The Game's Damon Bruce and Ray Ratto. "... if the two big names (Rodgers and Wilson) stay and Watson doesn't have an endgame for his lawsuit[s], it appears to me that the 49ers will be the beneficiaries of that and will be able to get a nice draft choice before the draft for Garoppolo."
Then the question becomes: How nice of a draft choice? King had some thoughts on that, too.
"If, for the sake of argument, Aaron Rodgers and Russell Wilson stay put, that is great news for the 49ers because it would mean, in my opinion, the floor of a trade would be, then, a first-round pick," King said. "And maybe the sweet spot ... would be to Pittsburgh at No. 20, or maybe even to Washington [at No. 11].
"I can tell you I had a good talk last week with [Commanders coach] Ron Rivera at the Super Bowl. They are going to do something at quarterback. They don't know yet what it is but they're going to do something at quarterback. Carolina is [also] going to do something at quarterback."
You can listen to the entire conversation with King below.
