Should the 49ers Regret Opting for Jimmy Garoppolo Over Kirk Cousins?

Kirk Cousins will be taking the field in what will be the San Francisco 49ers’ first NFL Playoff appearance since the 2014 season and the first in the Kyle Shanahan-era in San Francisco. However, Cousins will not be under center for the 49ers, but instead for the team on the opposite sideline, something that would have seemed like the unlikeliest of scenarios just two years ago.

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Kirk Cousins Was In Line to Be the 49ers QB, Until He Wasn’t

Let’s take it back the 2017 regular season. Kyle Shanahan was in the midst of his first year as an NFL head coach, a rough one at that. The 49ers were winless at the half-season mark, going 0-8 in their first eight games.

At the same time, Kirk Cousins was quarterbacking the Washington Redskins under his second, and eventual final year under the franchise tag. Cousins’ drawn-out stint with the ‘Skins would inevitably come to an end following the conclusion of the season, allowing Cousins to hit the open market at the perfect time with a plethora of quarterback-needy teams.

The 49ers seemed like the most logical landing spot for Cousins, and one that at one point almost seemed like a forgone conclusion. San Francisco’s current starting quarterback at the time was none other than CJ Beathard, not exactly your typical franchise signal-caller. Cousins and ‘9ers coach Kyle Shanahan also had history working together in the past, one that both sides speak glowingly of to this day. Shanahan served as Cousins’ offensive coordinator in Washington from 2012-2013.

Yet, as we now know, the marriage that many believed was meant to be, never materialized. This is due to one decision by the 49ers following a week eight blowout loss to the Eagles in 2017, which in return shaped the NFC as we know it today.

San Franciso pulled the trigger on a franchise shifting trade, acquiring Jimmy Garoppolo from the New England Patriots on October 30th, 2017. Garoppolo would go on to win all five of his games as the 49ers starter that season and the rest is history.

Shortly after, San Francisco would re-up Jimmy G to a lucrative $100+ million contract, securing him as their face of the franchise for the foreseeable future. Seven months after the Garoppolo trade, Kirk Cousins would find his own home, landing with the Minnesota Vikings on a historical fully guaranteed contract, and becoming the highest-paid player in all of football at the time.

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Jimmy Garoppolo vs. Kirk Cousins

Jimmy Garoppolo may not blow you away with statistics, but one thing is for certain, he wins games. During his tenure with the 49ers, Jimmy G has accumulated a phenomenal win-loss record of 19-5.

Garoppolo is currently in the midst of a three-game slump where he’s tossed two touchdown passes and two interceptions over the span. However, if anyone has proven a quarterback is capable of breaking out of a slump, it’s Garoppolo’s opponent today. For the first month of the season, fans, and teammates for that matter, wanted Kirk Cousins out of Minnesota.

Now as we sit here today, Cousins is the toast of the town, going toe-to-toe with future Hall of Famer Drew Brees one week ago, and beating him. In return, capturing his first career playoff victory.

Now it will be Garoppolo’s turn to try and get his first-ever “W” in the month of January and reassure 49ers faithful that they have the right guy under center to make them a perennial Super Bowl threat year-in and year-out for the foreseeable future.

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