There’s not a whole lot more that can be said about the Jimmy Garoppolo situation for the time being. The 49ers tried to trade him, some team were interested, Jimmy got shoulder surgery, the interested teams went elsewhere. Now Garoppolo and his nearly $27 million cap hit are still on the roster heading into April.
The situation has gotten to a point where the 49ers brass is publicly saying that they are not opposed to keeping Jimmy if a trade doesn’t surface. At the moment, one doesn’t appear to be surfacing anytime soon, but KNBR’s Greg Papa presented a hypothetical that could see Garoppolo dealt before the season.
On Sunday’s “Haberman & Middlekauff Podcast” with Guy Haberman and John Middlekauff, Papa said that he believes the Cleveland Browns could be a sleeper team to trade for Garoppolo, assuming Deshaun Watson faces a lengthy suspension.
Watson, who currently faces 22 civil lawsuits related to sexual misconduct, was recently acquired by the Browns in a blockbuster trade and signed to a five-year, $230 million contract. There is a belief that Watson could be suspended for up to the entire 2022 season, something Cleveland anticipated by paying him just over $1 million in 2022.
If Watson does face a lengthy suspension, Papa believes Garoppolo would bit a perfect stopgap in Cleveland, considering Baker Mayfield is soon to be offloaded, and Jacoby Brissett is not as good.
“Say Deshaun gets 12 games and comes back, Jimmy can make it 9-3 vs. 3-9,” Papa said of what Cleveland’s record could be. “Wouldn’t they do that? So could the market change and specifically see Jimmy Garoppolo go to Andrew Berry and Kevin Stefanski and the Haslams?
“If you want to save the year. I think Cleveland with Deshaun Watson is a Super Bowl team. The AFC is loaded so it may not turn out that way, but it’s a really good roster. I’m not going to trust Baker to be the backup now, he’s pouting like a child. They’ll move him around the draft. Brissett is a nice player, but I think he’s a one or two game stopgap. He’s a great backup until you have to play him. Jimmy is a better player, we all acknowledge that. That could be the difference of coming out of the Watson suspension with a chance in November to make the playoffs and win.”
It might not be a probable scenario, but at this point, it’s hard to find one that’s more likely. The Carolina Panthers remain one of the few teams still seeking a QB upgrade, but that would involve a swap of Sam Darnold who is owed $18.8 million next season.
“I don’t really see Jimmy going anywhere else,” Papa concluded.