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Five months ago, the LA Rams let their starting quarterback Jared Goff go in a blockbuster trade with the Detroit Lions to acquire Matthew Stafford.
The kicker? Sean McVay’s old pal and San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan wanted in on the deal but lost out.
Shanahan recently joined The Ringer’s “Flying Coach” podcast where he let out his frustration on how close the 49ers were to landing Stafford.
You don’t want to get me started, dude. That was frustrating. I was actually in Cabo, I was watching it all. I had never studied Stafford that hard. I remember looking through it and everyone was telling me it was a possibility. Stafford’s the man, I studied him hard coming out of college, and we always used to play against him, so you know how good he is. But to know he might be available, and then spend two weeks really watching him, Sean? Yeah. He’s better than I had realized. He was the man, and he’s underrated to me. …
I was trying to get involved in it. Someone who had knowledge on the situation — I was talking to (Tom) Condon and everyone to find out when it was happening. I remember on Saturday, I was so stressed out, and finally we talked to someone and it was like 7 at night, and they were like, “No, nothing’s happening at the earliest till tomorrow. So you can finish your night.” So I’m like, “All right, I’m done.” Put my phone down, talk to Mandy, “Let’s go out to dinner, let’s have some drinks.”
A half an hour later, a buddy of mine calls me, he’s like, “I’m just telling you, if you want Stafford, you need to get ahold of him right now.” And I’m like, “What do you mean? We just talked to people, I can sleep on this, we’ll talk to ’em tomorrow.” “I’m just telling you, you need to talk to him right now.” And I knew it, and I turned on my phone, and it was all over. It wasn’t fun.
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The Lions Had No Preference
Forbes’ Vincent Frank reported that the Niners and Lions were had several talks during Senior Bowl week.
“49ers and Detroit have been talking trade through the night,” Frank tweeted on January 29. “Holmes wants it done quick, any team.”
What were the 49ers willing to give up for Stafford?
“49ers offered 2 second-round picks and 2 third rounds picks. From what I know,” Frank also reported.
So, what did the Lions end up with? A blockbuster trade that landed them two first-round picks, a third-round pick and Jared Goff.
And in return, the Rams got a new QB.
What Does This Mean for Jimmy Garoppolo?
Shanahan opening up about this trade saga means, to no surprise, that the Niners want a new starting quarterback.
They can praise Jimmy Garoppolo over and over but it doesn’t hide the fact that he’s on his last leg and the 49ers are ready to hand the reins over. And if they truly believed in the vetted QB, then they wouldn’t have traded up nine spots ahead of the 2021 draft to select rookie Trey Lance.
Whether Garoppolo starts Week 1 remains to be seen, but expect a full-blown battle for the starting position once training camp kicks off at the end of the month.
After all, Shanahan is not opposed to having the rookie QB win the job.
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