"He’s a little bit upset with that business aspect" - Jimmy Garoppolo accused of delaying surgery to sabotage trade value
This past week, specifically at the quarterback position, a lot happened in the football world. We've seen Aaron Rodgers sign a contract extension with the Green Bay Packers, becoming the highest-paid player in NFL history. We also saw the Seattle Seahawks trade away Russell Wilson to the Denver Broncos while the Indianapolis Colts traded Carson Wentz to the Washington Commanders.
Another quarterback's fate yet to be determined is the San Francisco 49ers' Jimmy Garoppolo. Garoppolo recently underwent shoulder surgery, and former 49er Joe Staley thinks it's due to the quarterback being upset with his situation and the fact that the 49ers traded up last year to draft his possible replacement in Trey Lance.
Staley said:
"I think Jimmy is playing, right now, a little bit of the business game. They drafted a quarterback last year, third overall. I know Jimmy is a great guy, didn’t make anything public, and is not going to split the team in any way or any capacity, but it probably felt a certain way to him that they would draft a guy to take over his role."
Staley then added that he thinks Garoppolo chose to get his shoulder surgery done now to try to diminish his trade value for the 49ers:
“So I think he’s a little bit upset with that business aspect of it, and I think the timing of his surgery right now is a little bit of the business aspect to it, saying, ‘All right, you’re going to try to trade me? Well, I don’t want to get traded, so I’m going to try to maybe diminish my trade value a little bit with this timing of this shoulder surgery."
Despite the odd timing of the surgery, Garoppolo is still expected to be back in time to throw for training, but the question remains: who will it be with?
#49ers QB Jimmy Garoppolo underwent shoulder surgery today, sources say. All went as expected (i.e. "successful surgery"). The plan and hope is Garoppolo is throwing well ahead of training camp. Only question is which team's camp it'll be.
Jimmy Garoppolo's days as a 49er could be numbered
Whether he's traded or not, the Jimmy G era may be over in San Francisco. The 49ers don't think he's the long-term answer at quarterback as they drafted Trey Lance and gave up a boatload to trade up for him from the Miami Dolphins. San Francisco acquired the third-overall pick from Miami and used it on Lance as the Dolphins received the 12th overall selection in the 2020 draft from San Francisco, a third-round pick in the 2021 draft, and a first-round pick in 2022 and 2023.
How the Carson Wentz trade changes the market for Jimmy Garoppolo and more in this week’s @PFF Mailbag: pff.com/news/nfl-doug-…
There are also multiple rumors that teams such as the Pittsburgh Steelers, Carolina Panthers, and Indianapolis Colts might be interested in acquiring him. It will be interesting to see where Jimmy G is under center in 2022.