Presumptive new San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan will have some input when it comes to the team’s personnel department in his first season as a NFL head coach. That much is already known.
Also known is the fact that San Francisco will be looking to add a quarterback during the offseason. Colin Kaepernick is expected to opt out of his contract and is unlikely to return to the 49ers (more on that here).
After that, the team does not have another quarterback under contract. Both Blaine Gabbert and Christian Ponder are impending free agents. Even if San Francisco were to retain one of them, it would be as nothing more than a backup.
So it stands to reason that Shanahan and new 49ers general manager John Lynch will have their eyes firmly targeted on free agency and the trade block next month.
One player who could conceivably be moved is New England Patriots backup Jimmy Garoppolo. In talking about the young signal caller, the current Atlanta Falcons offensive coordinator indicated that he was extremely high on his Super Bowl LI opponent in the lead up to the 2014 NFL Draft.
In fact, he indicated that Garoppolo was his No. 2 quarterback of that draft class behind Derek Carr (via Cleveland.com).
This is interesting considering both Carr and Teddy Bridgewater went ahead of Garoppolo in that specific draft, who ended up being selected by New England in the second round.
Garoppolo surely fits the mold of the type of quarterback that would succeed in Shanahan’s offense. He’s a pure drop-back passer with a cannon for an arm, much like NFL MVP Matt Ryan and Kirk Cousins.
It would be foolish to read too much into this. Though, San Francisco will surely be in the market for the likes of Garoppolo and Cousins should either be made available when the new league year starts next month.