49ers seem to believe that Jimmy Garoppolo is still the long-term answer

The San Francisco 49ers seem to believe that Jimmy Garoppolo is the long-term answer at quarterback.

The San Francisco 49ers were the subject of some pretty extensive rumors this offseason almost exclusively surrounding the quarterback position. But at least for now, they seem to believe in Jimmy Garoppolo.

After a magical 2019 season that saw the team fall just short of a Super Bowl title, the 49ers had some difficult decisions to make in the offseason.

That was evidenced by their decision to trade away All-Pro defensive tackle DeForest Buckner as part of a cost-saving move for the future. But that wasn’t the biggest story having over the team’s heads in the offseason.

Rumors surrounding free-agent quarterback Tom Brady followed the 49ers (and other teams) wherever they went and it wasn’t until Brady officially signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers that the rumors were finally put to bed.

But the “damage” had been done and questions arose about their commitment to their current quarterback for the foreseeable future. Many of those questions were unfair and premature, but they persisted nonetheless.

Did the 49ers believe in Garoppolo as the long-term answer at the position? Or were they just shopping around to take advantage of an unprecedented situation?

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How do the 49ers feel about Jimmy Garoppolo as their future quarterback?

While we may not truly know the answer until further in the future it seems as though general manager John Lynch and head coach Kyle Shanahan do believe in Garoppolo.

At least, that’s the feeling that Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer gets after speaking with Lynch back in the spring.

Breer discusses how Lynch and Shanahan took the time to review all of Garoppolo’s film from a year ago and came away confident that Garoppolo was both the present and the future of the quarterback position.

Lynch had the following to say to Breer when asked about Garoppolo’s future.

"“And I think we both came back and said, ‘You know what? We’ve got the long-term answer in our building right now, and we feel really strongly about that. We felt like it was a responsibility to take a look [at Brady], because that’s a very unique situation. We did that, we talked with Jimmy, and told him just what we did. I think he appreciated that. And the great news is we’re more convicted than ever that Jimmy’s the guy that we want to work with going forward. We feel like he’s got a lot more in him.”"

That sure seems like the 49ers are confident in their quarterback.

Theoretically, the 49ers would be able to move on from Garoppolo — either via a trade or by releasing him — after this season with very little in dead cap, just $2.8 million.

So while he has massive cap hits over the next three years, very little of it is guaranteed. If they weren’t confident in him, it wouldn’t be difficult to move on.

But if Lynch and Breer are to be believed, the 49ers love Garoppolo and have no plans of moving on anytime soon. They feel that he is the future and believe that he could lead them to a Super Bowl title.

After all, he was a quarter away from that happening last season.

The questions and rumors regarding Jimmy Garoppolo’s future in San Francisco aren’t going away anytime soon. But for the time being, it doesn’t appear as though he’s going anywhere.