There is no shortage of Jimmy Garoppolo talk as the roster cut-down deadline quickly approaches. Everyone is trying to figure out what the San Francisco 49ers plan to do with their unwanted veteran quarterback. He's not just unwanted by the Niners; no other team seems to want Garoppolo, either. At least, they aren't willing to trade for him.
Signing Garoppolo after the 49ers release him remains a possibility, though. You don't have to look further than San Francisco's own division to find a quarterback-needy team that might be grateful to add Garoppolo. The Seattle Seahawks look to enter the regular season with Geno Smith at the helm of the offense after an underwhelming offseason battle with Drew Lock.
One writer, Peter King of NBC Sports, doesn't believe Garoppolo should rush to Seattle once his freedom is granted by the 49ers—if that actually happens. Instead, the longtime scribe believes Garoppolo should be patient in looking at his options.
"I think if I'm Jimmy Garoppolo, and I get my freedom sometime in the next two weeks, I don't sign anywhere," King wrote in his latest Football Morning in America column. "I wait. I get fully healthy and sign with a team when there's a quarterback injury. Maybe Seattle's a good opportunity for him (I haven't heard the Seahawks are very interested anyway), but he'd have to learn a new offense and join a team not committed to him on the fly when two quarterbacks already have been immersed in the offense since the spring (And in Geno Smith's case, longer)."
While King has not heard anything surrounding the Seahawk's interest in Garoppolo, former NFL executive Michael Lombardi has heard chatter on the topic.
"I keep asking teams all the time, why don't they just cut Jimmy G now?" Lombardi recently said on his podcast, The GM Shuffle. "And the answer that I got back from multiple teams is 'they don't want him to go to Seattle'. I said, 'Well how interested is Seattle in Jimmy G?' And (one source) said 'Oh, they're very interested in him.' So for all the talk about Geno, for all the talk about Drew Lock, I think Seattle knows they're going to get Jimmy G. And I think San Francisco knows that he could go there."
The Seahawks have other problems, though. While Garoppolo might be an upgrade at quarterback for Seattle, no one is expecting the one-time regular NFC West contenders to be very good in 2022.
King adds, "Waiting allows Garoppolo to be choosy and maybe to get very lucky if the team with an injury is a strong playoff team."
That would probably suit 49ers general manager John Lynch, who reportedly prefers Garoppolo doesn't end up in Seattle. The two teams play each other in Week 2 and Week 15.