Report: 49ers want to do long-term deal with Jimmy Garoppolo

Given the way Jimmy Garoppolo has played already for the San Francisco 49ers, it wouldn’t be surprising if the team wanted to sign him long term.

According to Ian Rapoport of NFL Media, who appeared on KNBR’s Murph & Mac Monday morning, that’s exactly what the 49ers want to do. Though, it takes two to tango.

“My understanding has been they want to do the long-term,” Rapoport said. “It definitely depends on if you can work it out financially. You know we’ve seen some teams in the past want to do long-term deals and then just be not quite able to work it out and a player ends up playing on the tag.”

The 49ers have already made it clear Garoppolo is a franchise quarterback, and it wouldn’t be a surprise if he ends up playing on the franchise tag next year. Still, it seems both sides would be better off from a stability point of view with a long-term deal.

In two starts plus one small drive at the end of Week 12, Garoppolo has proved he was worth the second-round pick San Francisco used to trade for him. And then some.

“Now that there are really no concerns at all, and I figure he is getting the tag, and so any deal negotiated would be based off that,” Rapoport said. “So if you know that, then you could do the deal in advance of the tag if both sides want to work together and I would imagine they do.”

He clearly is the team’s long-term answer at quarterback and has led the team to two consecutive road wins. In the process, Garoppolo has completed 66.7 percent of his passes for 645 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions.

Better yet, the team is scoring on a regular basis.

If John Lynch can lock up Garoppolo on a long-term deal before the end of the season, or at least before needing to use the tag next year, it’ll be one more big win for the rookie general manager, who has the team looking up for the first time since Jim Harbaugh departed.