The entire NFL was waiting to see if the 49ers would really release quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo after failing to trade him. As it turns out, that was a waste of time.
San Francisco and Garoppolo surprised the league on Monday by restructuring Garoppolo’s contract, so he’s not leaving the Bay Area any time soon. According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, it’s a one-year deal that gives both parties flexibility moving forward.
Here’s a smattering of thoughts from 49ers reporters on Twitter, as they all lost their minds to some extent when the surprise new broke.
This move appears to be the best the 49ers could do, absent a trade partner for Garoppolo at the moment. Some media personalities say that this is about the 49ers not believing in QB Trey Lance, who will be the starter Week 1. While Garoppolo’s presence does act as a security policy if Lance plays poorly, San Francisco’s plan is, obviously, for Lance to play well and hold on to the starting QB job.
But we shall see. As we can tell from reactions from 49ers beat reporters in the Bay Area, this is an unexpected development that will have yet unknown consequences, ideally ending up in a net positive for San Francisco
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