Rapoport: 49ers holding onto Jimmy Garoppolo not impossible

ESPN's Jeremy Fowler continues to report that the San Francisco 49ers are giving second-year quarterback Trey Lance every indication that he will start in 2022. The 21-year-old quarterback has been under that impression for a while.

"That's the plan. That's the plan," Lance said in February. "That's my plan."

That has probably been "the plan" since he was drafted No. 3 overall in last year's draft. Jimmy Garoppolo would start one more season (2021), and then the 49ers would transition to Lance.

San Francisco is trying to trade Garoppolo. His recent shoulder surgery has thrown a wrench into the team's plans to offload the veteran quarterback. Garoppolo remains on the roster, and there is no demand for a quarterback who can't even throw until June, at the earliest. Plus, most quarterback-needy teams have already addressed that need, and the others may do so next week during the draft.

Pat McAfee asked Ian Rapoport about the quarterback situation in Santa Clara while noting that he believes keeping Garoppolo in 2022 is "impossible." However, the NFL Network insider expressed confusion at that statement, adding that he wouldn't use an absolute when describing the situation.

"I'm not so sure it's impossible that Garoppolo comes back and attends training camp with the 49ers, and then we'll see what happens because he's still not going to be able to throw until June," Rapoport said Monday on the Pat McAfee Show. "That is if everything goes perfectly well. He's coming back from a very serious shoulder surgery—right shoulder. It was a torn capsule, I believe, kind of outside or on his rotator cuff. So it wasn't rotator cuff surgery, but it was kind of around it.

"If everything goes perfect, he's throwing in June. If everything doesn't go perfect, he's throwing in July, probably. So who is going to trade for him that didn't get a quarterback in the draft?"

This offseason, head coach Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch have expressed confidence in Lance but have been careful with their wording while discussing Garoppolo. After all, no one knows what will happen. While they would like to trade the quarterback, a challenging situation may result if no one is interested.

What if the result is a training camp battle between Garoppolo and Lance?

"And then let's play this forward a little bit," Rapoport continued. "I don't know what Trey Lance is going to be. The people in San Francisco really, really, really liked him. Potentially, they think he's going to be great, but we don't know. Let's say Garoppolo shows up and, just like last year, was the better quarterback. How do you not play him?"