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It may have taken longer than expected but the San Francisco 49ers were finally able to move on from Jimmy Garoppolo this offseason. The veteran quarterback signed a three-year deal with the Las Vegas Raiders and is looking forward to the next chapter of his career. The 49ers tried to get off of Garoppolo last offseason but weren’t able to find a trade partner.
That ended up working out for the team as they needed him to play following an injury to Trey Lance. He led the team to a 7-3 record in 10 starts before getting injured. Garoppolo only had a losing record once as the starter for the 49ers in 2018 where he went 1-2 before getting hurt. Despite his success, the team signaled their desire to get rid of him when they drafted Lance in 2021. Over the years, Garoppolo would alienate his team during the offseason.
He has completely ignored former head coach Kyle Shanahan when it’s not mandatory to respond. Garoppolo and Shanahan will not be working with each other for the first time since 2016 but the coach still hasn’t been able to speak with the quarterback. He was asked if he had a chance to reach out to Garoppolo since the Raiders signing and he took a bit of a shot at the quarterback.
“That would be impossible. You’ve gotta run into Jimmy to have a conversation with him,” Shanahan said at the 2023 NFL Annual Meeting.
Shanahan Acknowledges Success He’s Had With Garoppolo
Garoppolo and Shanahan were very close to winning a Super Bowl together in 2019. They had a 10-point lead over the Kansas City Chiefs with seven minutes to go in the game before surrendering 21 unanswered points and losing. Had the 49ers won that game, Garoppolo may still be with the team. However, Shanahan clearly didn’t think the quarterback could get the team over the hump.
He did acknowledge that he had a lot of success with Garoppolo and offered praise for the quarterback.
“It was extremely successful,” Shanahan said. “I mean, look at his record. I know he had a hard time staying healthy with us. The one year he did stay healthy, he took us to the Super Bowl. The next year that he stayed the most healthy, we went to the NFC Championship.
“Jimmy played at an extremely high level for us and allowed us to win a lot of games and is a very good quarterback.”
Garoppolo to Have More Control in Raiders’ Offense
Garoppolo is also likely happy to leave San Francisco. He had some good years but it’s never fun for a player to play somewhere he’s clearly not wanted anymore. Shanahan is also known to exercise a lot of control over his offense. According to Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer, Garoppolo will actually get a chance to have more control under Raiders head coach Josh McDaniels.
“One thing that was interesting about talking to Jimmy is how excited he is to have control back,” Breer told KRLV-FM in Las Vegas on March 27. “The quarterback controls everything (in McDaniels’ offense).”
McDaniels is still a bit more controlling than some coaches but he must be more relaxed than Shanahan in some aspects.
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