The Carolina Panthers may already have Jimmy Garoppolo lined up as their starting quarterback for the 2022 campaign if not for one small thing. (Okay, maybe it’s not that small.)
As noted by MMQB senior editor Albert Breer on Monday, any potential trade of the San Francisco 49ers’ 30-year-old passer—to the Panthers or otherwise—still hinges largely on his upcoming salary. Garoppolo, who carries another pertinent caveat in the fact that he’s fresh off rotator cuff surgery on his throwing arm, is set to earn a pretty hefty $24.6 million this season.
“The Niners, I’ve been told repeatedly, are willing to let other teams talk to him about renegotiating the contract—and that’s necessary now, because just two teams (the Browns and Panthers, interestingly) could absorb that lump-sum without any sort of cap maneuvering,” Breer writes.
