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With the San Francisco 49ers running out of possible trade partners for quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have been mentioned as a possible landing spot for him. But Tampa Bay Times’ Rick Stroud reported there is “not a chance” that the Bucs will acquire Garoppolo.
“Um. Not a chance fellas. As one Bucs coach told me, ‘If (Garoppolo) could throw a deep ball, he would’ve won two Super Bowls already,'” Stroud tweeted on July 8.
Garppolo has one season remaining on his $137 million contract and is slated to have a $24.2 million salary for this upcoming season. With the Niners turning over the offense to second-year quarterback Trey Lance, San Francisco has been open about their desire to trade Garoppolo.
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Cowherd: The Bucs Should Trade for Jimmy G
The Buccaneers got a brief scare with what life would be like without Tom Brady over the offseason, but ultimately the veteran quarterback opted to play another year in Tampa. There are multiple challenges that make trading for Garoppolo a flawed option for the Buccaneers. The veteran has just one year remaining on his deal, meaning he is slated to become a free agent next offseason, potentially when the Bucs are again in need of a quarterback if Brady retires for good in 2023.
Giving up assets for Garoppolo could be less than ideal for Tampa Bay, and the quarterback would be an expensive backup. It is hard to imagine San Francisco netting more than a future late-round draft pick in return for Garoppolo. Fox Sports’ Colin Cowherd is pushing for the Buccaneers to add Garoppolo as the team’s quarterback in waiting behind Brady.
“Jimmy — now, to me — is the best you can do as a bridge. I mean, it’s just … How he has handled it in San Francisco is fairly remarkable. It really is,” the talk show host noted during a July 7 episode of “The Herd.” “That’s why, I contend, you could bring him to Tampa behind Brady.
“It probably [would] bother Tom more than Jimmy. And just say, ‘Listen, Kyle Trask isn’t ready next year. We’re gonna bring in Jimmy to back him up.’ I don’t know if the finances work. I haven’t looked at that, but — I mean, to me — it would work solely because of Jimmy. It just, it would work. I don’t know if Tom would like it, but Jimmy’d be fine with it.”
Trask Is Not Expected to Be the Bucs’ Backup QB in 2022
Yet, the finances do not necessarily work in their present form. The Niners would need to be willing to eat a good portion of Garoppolo’s salary for 2022, just as the Cleveland Browns did in order to trade Baker Mayfield to the Carolina Panthers. The Buccaneers and Garoppolo could potentially agree to a new contract as part of the trade, but Tampa Bay might prefer to get an up-close look at the veteran before committing to him long term.
The Buccaneers already have Kyle Trask on the roster, but the second-year quarterback may not even be the backup in 2022. Bucs quarterback coach Clyde Christensen indicated that the team plans to use the upcoming season as another developmental year for Trask.
“Yeah, I think it’s more of a learning year. I don’t see him competing with [Blaine] Gabbert this year,” Christensen explained during a May 10 press conference. “Although, he could do it. Just, all the odds are stacked against you. You can’t rep everybody, you can’t get enough [reps]. It’s hard to get Gabbert enough reps, so we’ll prepare Gabbert as the No. 2. There’s always competition, right? There’s always someone looking for your job, but Gabbert will get [the reps].
“I don’t see that being an either/or. I see Gabbert being a backup and Kyle being a developmental guy, and we’ll rep ’em that way. And, you know, if you jump off the screen and he outplays Brady, then he outplays Brady, and we’ll make some decisions, but when you go into it, you know the percentage chance of that happening isn’t very good. And we frankly can’t operate that way, you just don’t have enough reps to do that and get everyone prepared.”
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