Almost everyone expects the San Francisco 49ers to trade Jimmy Garoppolo this offseason, officially transitioning to 21-year-old Trey Lance at quarterback. Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk believes that will happen too. However, that doesn't mean the 49ers deciding to hold onto Garoppolo for one more season would shock the seasoned—and sometimes polarizing—NFL analyst.
Florio was convinced the 49ers would part with Garoppolo before this past September despite the team's decision-makers insisting the plan was to have Lance sit and learn during his rookie season. Leading to the draft, San Francisco certainly looked like a team desperately seeking to replace Garoppolo, with head coach Kyle Shanahan even expressing disappointment in missing out on Matthew Stafford—saying so while Garoppolo and Lance were on the roster.
While the expectation is that Garoppolo will be playing elsewhere in 2022, nothing is certain in the NFL.
"Who knows? They may surprise us," Florio said Wednesday on KNBR. "They made decide to have one more year with Jimmy Garoppolo. It all comes down to when Trey Lance is ready to go."
Lance's readiness to take over will certainly be a factor in any offseason quarterback moves.
On Wednesday, Deebo Samuel said he hoped the 49ers would win the Super Bowl, making the decision to part ways with Garoppolo tougher. The receiver suggested that it might take time for the inexperienced Lance to become the player Samuel knows he can be.
"Just looking back, and just seeing what I see in Trey, it's going to take time with him not having as many reps this year," Samuel explained during an interview with ESPN, "to come in and be the guy that I know he can be. But with time, you get better, so I put all my trust in Trey, and whatever Kyle's (Shanahan) plan is, I'm going to just rock with it."
Florio adds that a $24.2 million base salary isn't unreasonable for one more year of Garoppolo, and notes that Jed York once said he was willing to pay whatever needed to allow Lance the time to grow into the starting role, whether that be one or two years.
"I think it was sufficiently against the grain for them to do what they did last year in keeping Jimmy once they made the move for Trey Lance," Florio added. "It would not shock me if when they go back and look at all their options, make a decision, and the decision is, 'We want to give Trey Lance one more year to get ready, and we'll roll the dice one more time with Jimmy G.'
"I mean, they got close enough to the Super Bowl that it wouldn't stun me. And I know that not getting there makes it easier to move on, but again, they surprised me in keeping him into Week 1 this year and rolling the whole season with him. It just wouldn't surprise me if they did it again because they've already done enough with Jimmy G to make me say, 'Wow, I didn't expect that.' So I'm not going to be stunned if they decide to give it one more go."
You can listen to the entire conversation with Florio below.