Vincent Frank
By now it’s been well documented that San Francisco 49ers general manager John Lynch called up New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick about Jimmy Garoppolo last season. That conversation went nowhere, ultimately leading Lynch to redial Belichick to inquire about Tom Brady. Obviously, that was more in jest.
Now that Garoppolo is on the 49ers and the richest man in the NFL after signing an extension last week, we’re starting to hear more about the process that led to him being dealt from New England back in October.
According to 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan, he personally asked Belichick about Garoppolo during the 2018 NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis and was quickly shot down.
“At that time, the only guys we thought were franchise quarterbacks that were being mentioned were Kirk [Cousins] and Jimmy,” Shanahan told MMQBs Albert Breer. “And I knew Kirk wasn’t going to be a possibility. And I remember asking Bill personally down at the combine about Jimmy, and very quickly he told me that wasn’t a possibility. So we moved on from that. He told me he wasn’t going to trade him.”
At that point, the Pats were holding out hope that Garoppolo would agree to an extension and become Brady’s eventual successor down the line. Once it became clear he had no interest in that, New England was forced to trade its former second-round pick. For San Francisco, the third time was a charm. Immediately prior to October’s trade deadline, the 49ers acquired Garoppolo for a mere second-round pick. Months later, and he’s locked up on a five-year deal averaging $27.5 million annually.
As Brady and the Pats look to turn the page on a Super Bowl LII loss to Philadelphia, the organization now needs to think long and hard about finding an heir apparent to the future Hall of Fame quarterback. That’s the primary reason this team turned down multiple overtures before it became clear Garoppolo wanted out of dodge. It will also lead to an interesting spring for the Pats as they look to add another young signal caller behind Brady.
