It's been a wild offseason so far. The NFL landscape will look very different in 2022 after several quarterbacks and other high-profile players have moved to other organizations. The San Francisco 49ers were hoping Jimmy Garoppolo would be among those players. However, the team hasn't been able to trade its veteran quarterback.
Now, it's tough to find a quarterback-needy team that might be a good fit for Garoppolo and is willing to give something up while financially committing to the quarterback.
Garoppolo's diminished trade value and offseason shoulder surgery have kicked off chatter that the quarterback playing elsewhere in 2022 isn't a foregone conclusion. It won't be from a lack of effort. The 49ers just haven't been able to move the quarterback. Some wonder if it might take an injury and an act of desperation for another team to pursue Garoppolo aggressively.
The plan has been to have last year's No. 3 overall pick, Trey Lance, transitioned into the starting role by 2022. Garoppolo still being on the roster in March doesn't change that. However, potentially being on the roster in August or September will at least complicate the situation.
"Garoppolo's market appears to be slow right now," Jeremy Fowler wrote for ESPN (h/t Haberman and Middlekauff). "Teams I've talked to have legitimate concern about the shoulder surgery and what that might mean for his offseason and the 2022 campaign."
In February, Lance said he expects to be San Francisco's starter come Week 1.
"That's the plan," Lance said. "That's my plan."
Nothing about this offseason has changed the 21-year-old quarterback's mind.
"Trey Lance has gotten the full impression behind the scenes that he will start in 2022," Fowler wrote. "So while the expectation is San Francisco will move Garoppolo eventually, it feels like the team is in a holding pattern on that."
Unlike a very vocal segment of the fanbase, no one inside the 49ers' building is panicking. The March 16 deadline to get under the $208.2 million salary cap has come and gone. San Francisco managed to shed enough salary to get there. General manager John Lynch admitted that the team always had a backup plan ready, should Garoppolo still be on the roster.
"I talked to a source who said the 49ers aren't in a major rush to move quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo," Fowler added. "The 49ers budgeted for this offseason knowing they could carry Garoppolo's $26 million cap hit and still do what's necessary in free agency and the draft from a cash standpoint."