Maybe we will see Jimmy Garoppolo throwing passes to Deebo Samuel in 2022, after all. No, not with the San Francisco 49ers. At least one of them is likely to be traded before the start of the season. Garoppolo is being forced out after the 49ers drafted his replacement, Trey Lance, last year.
San Francisco would like to hold onto Samuel for the foreseeable future, signing him to a long-term contract extension. But, for now, the feeling doesn't seem mutual. ESPN reported this week that Samuel has requested to be traded.
The 49ers can't seem to offload Garoppolo, and teams might be tripping over themselves to get Samuel. So could San Francisco take advantage of the situation and use the wide receiver's high value to include Garoppolo in a trade package?
"I would do that in a heartbeat," Garoppolo told Mark Carman on Stacking The Box. "I think that those things will take care of themselves, but I didn't even think about that idea. That's not bad."
Talked with the always classy @JimmyG_10 who had tons of praise for @19problemz both on and off the field. Pay this man.
And yes Jimmy is open to keep playing with him… somewhere. #Stackingthebox pic.twitter.com/Q5glrLsmdb
— Mark Carman (@thecarm) April 21, 2022
Suppose the 49ers do end up trading Samuel. In that case, it may be the perfect opportunity for the team to finally offload Garoppolo and his hefty salary while getting a significant trade package in return. Although, the general impression around the league seems to be that San Francisco has no intention of granting Samuel's wish.
"I've texted a lot of the GMs of those teams that are mentioned [to be potential landing spots for Samuel]," Peter Schrager said Thursday on Good Morning Football, "and you could list them 12 deep, and they're like, 'They're not trading Deebo Samuel. Kyle would never trade him. He's too important.'"