Jimmy Garoppolo’s upcoming shoulder surgery was his call, one that complicates his eventual exit from the 49ers, general manager John Lynch indicated Wednesday from the NFL’s scouting combine in Indianapolis.
“The shoulder — I never like saying minor when someone is having surgery — but it’s a capsule issue in the back of his shoulder that you try to rehab,” Lynch said on the NFL Network. “But if it doesn’t get well with the rehab, then you go to the alternative route, and that is what they’ve decided to do.
“So it’s going to take some time, but he’s going to be fine.”
Where he will be is a mystery, other than most likely not back with the 49ers for a sixth season, as much as Lynch and others appreciated Garoppolo’s grit through a compelling run to the NFC Championship Game.
“Jimmy is a part of us right now,” Lynch said in ensuing his press conference. “A lot of people need or want quarterbacks right now and he’s obviously a guy they’d look at. Yes, we have listened but he’s part of us and he’ll work diligently to get back from surgery.”
Garoppolo’s inability to throw for at least four months — and perhaps longer, as was the 2016 case with Colin Kaepernick’s shoulder surgery — would keep him off the field in spring practices. That makes for a challenging transition to a new team and likely drops his market value, perhaps from a Day 2 draft pick to conditional, late-round choices.
Garoppolo damaged ligaments in the shoulder capsule’s ball-and-socket joint during the 49ers’ playoff-opening win at Dallas. That injury followed a Dec. 23 thumb sprain. He pushed through that pain not only against the Cowboys but in a divisional playoff win at Green Bay before an NFC Championship Game loss to the eventual Super Bowl champion Los Angeles Rams.
“We didn’t know it and I don’t think Jimmy knew it,” Lynch said Wednesday of Garoppolo’s need for shoulder surgery after the season. “He’s made a decision in the last couple of days.”
Garoppolo’s plight is arguably irrelevant to the 49ers’ true future, aside from whatever compensation they get for him as well as the $25.5 million they save in salary cap space.
Trey Lance, the No. 3 pick in last year’s draft, was groomed his rookie season for a 2022 accession to the 49ers’ starting role. “He’s going to get his chance to go show that,” Lynch added.
Lance essentially played just 2 1/2 games as a rookie in place of Garoppolo, who missed an October start with a calf contusion and the regular-season home finale because of the thumb injury which reportedly does not require surgery.
Garoppolo, while essentially bidding farewell in his Feb. 1 press conference, hinted that his shoulder might need surgery, although Lynch said Wednesday the 49ers were not anticipating that.
“This arm’s been through a lot this last month, so got to get this figured out first,” Garoppolo said. “And yeah, as far as just the whole trade situation, John’s been very clear with it. I think they’re trying to do the best for me. I’m trying to do the best for them and we’re working together in that really haven’t made too much progress on it, but I think things will start happening here pretty quickly.”
That was a month ago. The league’s new fiscal year begins March 16, by which time Garoppolo’s no-trade clause expires, and, in all likelihood, a 49ers tenure in which he went 35-16 overall since December 2017.
Lance is officially 1-1 as an NFL starter, but the 49ers’ brass is “loving” his development behind the scenes.
“He attacked it the right way,” Lynch said of Lance’s rookie year. “I keep talking about his mental abilities. He can handle a lot. He’s just got that makeup that the great ones do. We can only hope he can be Patrick Mahomes or anything close to that.”
Aside from challenging Lance to make tight-window throws in practice on the scout team, Lynch noted that the dual-threat dynamo from North Dakota State “had to make an adjustment to how you run in the NFL, and that’s natural for rookies.”
“I tell people he’s everything we thought he was when we traded a lot to go get him, and more. I really believe that,” Lynch added. “There’s a ton of excitement. Of course there’s some unknown; there always is in this game. But Trey’s made of the right stuff, both talent-wise and in his spirit, who he is, the intangibles. Guys like playing for him, like being around him and we’re excited to see what he can do.”
Shanahan and his reconstructed coaching staff bypassed the combine, in part to devote valuable time to “scheme work,” and that hints at the offense’s transition from Garoppolo to Lance.
Other topics covered by Lynch:
On potential contract extensions for Deebo Samuel and Nick Bosa: “There’s no absolutes, but those guys are going to be 49ers. They’re foundational to what we do. On the field, their play is special. Off the field, in their own way, they’ve become big-time leaders and make their teammates better. We realize all that value. … When both sides have the motivation, deals can get done. The timing, I have no idea, but we’ll go to work here and have been working to try to do something.”
On running back Elijah Mitchell: “With Elijah, he came in and had an unbelievable year. We call him Drano because he always finds the right gap. It’s like putting Drano down the drain and it just finds it. It’s what we call him because of his natural run instincts. He showed a ton of toughness because he battled (through injuries). The kid is going to be a really good football player.”
On himself remaining GM rather than returning to a broadcasting career: “Ultimately I made the decision, my family made the decision, that this is where my heart is at right now and that’s what I’ve always had to guide me. That is a lot of money though. I can’t believe they’re paying that much money for people to talk football. It’s unbelievable.”
