Jimmy Garoppolo is set to hit free agency next Wednesday after the San Francisco 49ers already confirmed that his time at the franchise has come to an end.
The quarterback has been with the 49ers since 2017 and when Trey Lance's season was ended with an ankle injury in September, Garoppolo made a surprise return to the starting line-up only for a foot injury of his own to curtail his campaign in December. He had enjoyed his best year with the franchise since arriving by completing 67.2 per cent of his passes for 2,437 yards with 16 touchdowns and four interceptions.
Head coach Kyle Shanahan admitted "I don't see any scenario of that" when asked if he could see a situation where Garoppolo would return to the 49ers next season.
"Jimmy has been tremendous for us," general manager John Lynch said last week at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis. "In our first year, at the end of the year, we do a trade, and Jimmy comes in, lights it up. And a lot of people want to talk about what we didn't accomplish with him. What I know is we won a lot of football games with Jimmy. We admire his toughness. We admire the teammate that he was.
"I know everyone wants to talk about some discourse and all that, but I do believe that it's probably run its course. But I think we leave with nothing but fond memories for Jimmy, and Jimmy is going to go play good football for someone."
Garoppolo is instead going to be a free agent, and has caught the eyes of the Las Vegas Raiders. The Raiders are also reportedly courting the invasive Aaron Rodgers but ESPN's Dan Graziano is expecting Garoppolo to be their backup option.
"If they can't get [Rodgers], a lot of people in Indianapolis this week expect McDaniels and GM Dave Ziegler to pursue free agent quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, whom they know from his time in New England early in his career," wrote Graziano.
Garoppolo was famously Tom Brady's No.2 at the New England Patriots before moving west in a trade for a second-round pick at the 2018 NFL Draft. While at the Patriots he worked with then-Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Josh McDaniels.
McDaniels is now head coach of the Raiders, and quotes from him back in 2017 - when he was traded - show his appreciation of Garoppolo and make it unsurprising he would like to work with him again.
"We understand the business side of it, but the human element is that you had a guy in your room that you really enjoyed being around, you coached, that spent a lot of time learning and grasping what you were doing, and you saw him grow and get better and mature and improve through the course of time, and now he's not here. I wish him nothing but the best," said McDaniels.
"I really, really think a lot of this guy. He's got a bright future, he's a great person and I hope he does well for himself out there."
McDaniels wasn't the only coach to laud Garoppolo when he left the Patriots. Legendary head coach Bill Belichick also piled on the praise. "We probably had in my mind, the best QB situation in the league for the last 2 1/2 years. It is just not sustainable the way things are set up," said Belichick, via ESPN's Mike Reiss.
"Not something we wanted to walk away from. I felt we rode it out as long as we could. Over a period of time, explored every option possible to sustain it. At this point, felt like we had to make a decision. Very complex situation on multiple levels. This is really the last window that we had, we did what we felt was best for the team."
