This is the end of an era for the 49ers. After another injury-riddled, Super Bowl-less season for the 49ers, HC Kyle Shanahan officially came out and said that Jimmy Garoppolo will not be on the roster next season.
This really isn’t a shocker…though the way how it was said most certainly is.
You’d think that Shanahan, who has worked with Garoppolo in San Francisco for the last six years, would have been a little more tactful and respectful in his announcement that the team was moving forward without Garoppolo next season, right? NOPE!
Kyle Shanahan really does have zero chill as he point blank said in his season-wrapping interview today that Jimmy Garoppolo has no future with the team and that they were perfectly fine with going with Brock Purdy and Trey Lance for the foreseeable future.
The exact quote, after he was asked about the possibility of keeping Jimmy Garoppolo around for another season due to the injury concerns with Lance and Purdy, was “no, I don’t see any scenario of that,” which was promptly followed by a brief chuckle as the reporter was left speechless/questionless. Simply ruthless.
Though, that’s exactly what the 49ers need going into an essential make-or-break 2023/24 campaign. Not only do they have a huge amount of uncertainty on the offensive side of the ball with the two stating QBs suffering devastating injuries (Lance broke his leg/ankle; Purdy tore his throwing arm UCL), but they also are facing numerous core players coming up on contract extensions.
Ray-Ray Mcloud is out of a contract after the end of next season, Arik Armstead, Charvarius Ward, Dre Greenlaw, Javon Kinlaw, Nick Bosa, Brandon Aiyuk, Aaron Banks, Deommodore Lenoir, Elijah Mitchell, and Talanoa Hufanga are out of contract in 2025, and George Kittle, Deebo Samuel, Christian McCaffrey, Trey Lance, Kyle Juszczyk, and Brock Purdy (he still has two more extensions years, though) are out of a deal in 2026.
In fact, the only two senior players on the 49ers 53-man roster that have a contract beyond the next two seasons are Trent Williams (2027) and Fred Warner (2027).
Meanwhile, Jimmie Ward, Samson Ebukam, Emmanuel Mosley, Mike McGlinchey, Azeez Al-Shaair, Robbie Gould, Tyler Kroft, Tashaun Gibson, Jake Brendel, and Jason Verrett are all now free agents as their deals expired the moment the final second ticked off the clock in that disastrous NFL Championship game against the Eagles.
Kind of a tenuous situation, right?
Needless to say, the 49ers need order and firm leadership as they must not only figure out how to sign most of these key players, but also win a Super Bowl in the next two seasons before the QB contracts of either Purdy or Lance eat up 15-20% of their salary cap.
So, like I said, Garoppolo leaving is a no brainer as his $7M cap hit added to the additional $20 or so million increase to the cap should help GM John Lynch resign the bulk of the current free agent class.
Still, the way the Shanahan-Garoppolo relationship has ended was too funny and shady for me not to talk about. But don’t feel too bad for ol’ Jimmy G. as now with his mentor Tom Brady officially retired, there’s a welcome spot down in the Tampa Bay quarterback room with his name on it.
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