Getty Jimmy Garoppolo #10 of the San Francisco 49ers.
The San Francisco 49ers traded nine spots up to No. 3 overall in next month’s draft and confirmed that they plan on drafting a quarterback.
On Monday, head coach Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch opened up about the blockbuster trade and how they broke the news to their current starting quarterback, Jimmy Garoppolo.
Obviously, Garoppolo wasn’t stoked the hear about the news, but he reportedly handled it well.
“(I) called him first thing and had a good conversation with him,” Shanahan said Monday on a video call via NBC Sports Bay Area. “Obviously, no one wants to hear that. He wasn’t totally excited about that, like you’d expect. Jimmy handled it great, like he always does.”
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Jimmy G. is Set to Lead Niners in 2021
Over his past four seasons in San Francisco, Garoppolo has struggled to stay healthy, missing a total of 33 games.
When he’s healthy and starting, the 49ers’ winning percentage jumps to 73.3. Without him? Well, the 49ers hold just a 6-24 record. With that being said, the Niners are not ready to move one Garoppolo as their primary starter.
“We were very straight up with each other,” Shanahan said. “I told him how we felt. It doesn’t change any of his circumstances right now. He’s still coming in here and trying to lead this team.
“I told him how excited I was that free agency went a lot better than we anticipated with being able to sign a lot more of our own players than we had thought going into it and that we got a real good team coming back here, and we still plan on him leading us and getting as far as we can with him.”
Garoppolo came to the Bay Area in 2017 following a mid-season trade with the Patriots and led the 49ers, who were 1-10, to five-straight wins to end the season. And during his first season as the team’s starter in 2019, the 49ers went to the Super Bowl.
Lynch also called Garoppolo later in the day and emphasized he still “very much” in their future plans.
“The message was what we are doing, why we were doing it, and how he is still very much a part of our plans,” Lynch said.
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Which QB Will the Niners Draft at No. 3?
Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence is projected to go No. 1 to the Jacksonville Jaguars and Zach Wilson is set to land with New York Jets, so this leaves the 49ers likely having to choose between Alabama’s Mac Jones, North Dakota State’s Trey Lance, or Ohio State’s Justin Fields.
Shanahan revealed in the call that it’s complicated to evaluate Lance, who missed last season due to COVID-19 and a new report from NBC’s Peter King announced that the Niners are choosing to attend Jones’ Pro Day on Tuesday over Fields’.
This will be the second time the 49ers have watched Jones in person. The first time they sent scouts to watch him in action during the 2020 season.
49ers Coach Kyle Shanahan & GM John Lynch are attending Mac Jones’ Pro day tomorrow over Justin Fields, per @peter_king
San Francisco holds the #3 overall pick.
