© Kirby Lee | 2020 Jan 11
Seriously? We still doing this?
Apparently yes, depending on which reports you choose to believe. Evan Massey, who has written for a handful of outlets, reported on Monday that the 49ers are still looking to make a move on Kirk Cousins, Kyle Shanahan’s former quarterback in Washington, and the apple of his eye ever since he joined the 49ers in 2017.
Acquiring Jimmy Garoppolo in November of 2017 essentially ended Shanahan’s dream of Cousins being the 49ers’ QB of the future. Or did it? 49ers beat writer Matt Maiocco weighed in on if he thinks a Shanahan-Cousins reunion is still a possibility.
“What I do know is Kyle Shanahan likes Kirk Cousins, has always liked Kirk Cousins,” Maiocco said on Tolbert, Krueger & Brooks on Monday. “I am fairly confident that he would consider Kirk Cousins as an upgrade over Garoppolo, both by availability and just the prolific numbers he can put up. But I would think that if Kirk Cousins ended up with the 49ers, that Garoppolo would end up with Minnesota.
“Right now the Vikings don’t have a quarterback on their roster that can take over for Cousins. The other part of that is I believe it would be a $21 million cap hit for the Vikings. For the 49ers it would be $21 million to acquire him, the big thing is next year it jumps up to $35 million, those are the final two years of his contract.
“When I kind of look at this and try to piece together what might happen, I don’t see the Vikings keeping Kirk Cousins beyond this season. In much the same way with the 49ers it kind’ve looks like this year is the year that all of those pieces are sorted out a little bit, and I don’t know that the 49ers would want to commit $35 million for Cousins next year.”
After the 49ers traded for Garoppolo in 2017, John Lynch “joked” that Shanahan was in a state of mourning that the Cousins ship had sailed. But has he totally gotten over it?
“Part of all this stuff is yes, the plan is that Jimmy Garoppolo will be the 49ers’ starting quarterback in 2021, unless somebody falls in their lap. Stafford was not going to fall in their lap because it was going to take a very significant price to get him from the Rams. Jimmy Garoppolo fell in the 49ers lap for a second-round draft pick. If somebody else falls in their lap that they really like and appreciate and can keep the roster pretty much the same and not delve into their future draft picks, then I’m sure that’s something they’d be open to doing.”
According to Maiocco, Cousins isn’t the only former Shanahan quarterback we should keep our eye on.
“You mention Kirk Cousins, another guy that I would toss out there is a possibility, if the Falcons with their new coach and GM decide that they want to start anew kind of like the Lions did, would be Matt Ryan. So those are two guys to keep an eye on. As of right now, the leader in the clubhouse would be Jimmy Garoppolo as the quarterback.”
Listen to the full interview below.