The San Francisco 49ers are ready to give second-year quarterback Trey Lance the keys to the offense. They feel like he's ready to take a step forward and have no use for Jimmy Garoppolo anymore.
However, with Garoppolo suffering an injury on his throwing shoulder and with his big salary for next season, the Niners are having a tough time getting any sort of traction on a deal.
Unsurprisingly, Garoppolo won't take part in the Niners' mandatory minicamp, as he's still nursing his injury. Needless to say, that has only raised more questions about his ability to be healthy and ready by the start of next season:
"That Garoppolo will not participate in this week's minicamp is no surprise as he has not taken part in the team's offseason conditioning program," reported Nick Wagoner of ESPN.
According to HC Kyle Shanahan, the Niners still hope to find a trade suitor for Jimmy G. He claimed that they could hold on to him and them make a move at some point in the season:
"Nothing's changed since the surgery, we knew where we were at before that, and then he got the surgery, so everything went on hold," Shanahan said a couple of weeks ago. "I expect him at some time, most likely to be traded, but who knows. It's not a guarantee and it's been exactly on hold when that happened. And when he is healthy, we'll see what happens."
There's still a small chance that Garoppolo gets moved. But he needs to prove he's healthy first, and that will only happen with playing time:
"The Garoppolo situation has been less messy, other than the surgery," one NFL team executive told Dan Graziano of ESPN. "That makes you think, once he's healthy, San Francisco has the better chance to get something done."
However, the word around the NFL is that both he and Baker Mayfield will most likely be cut, as no team will want to absorb their huge salaries:
"The majority of the people to whom I spoke for this story believe both players will likely end up being released," Graziano added. "A couple of people thought Garoppolo might still draw trade interest, provided an acquiring team could work out something to knock down the salary or spread it out over a couple of years."
Whatever is the case, it seems like he threw his last pass for the Niners.
