We know Jimmy Garoppolo isn't going anywhere until he fully recovers from his offseason shoulder surgery. Most have accepted that. The San Francisco 49ers aren't releasing him. By not trading him by the end of the draft, the 49ers showed they are willing to wait out the situation and see if a trade partner emerges after late June or early July, when the team expects the quarterback to start throwing again.
Nick Wagoner of ESPN recently stated that once Garoppolo recovers, the 49ers will again get on the phones and try to generate interest in the 30-year-old quarterback. Of course, that's not breaking news. That's what the plan has been since Garoppolo underwent surgery on March 8 and trade conversations came to a screeching halt.
One of Garoppolo's former teammates believes the veteran quarterback, once healthy, won't be shipped out of Santa Clara right away, though. Instead, he feels Garoppolo will still be on the roster during training camp, which kicks off at the end of July.
"I think he's going to be on the team during training camp," Richard Sherman said on his latest podcast. "I think he'll be more of a safety valve, and a really expensive safety valve, but safety all the same. I think they're going to give Trey Lance an opportunity to start in ball games. I think they want to see it.
"I don't think he'll play a ton in the preseason, so they'll keep a ton of backup quarterbacks in the preseason. But I don't know if either of them will play in preseason. It's not worth the injury risk to Jimmy G with his cap number, and it's not worth the injury risk to the guy who you want to start."
The 49ers love everything that their second-year quarterback brings to the table. So much so that they pulled off a massive trade last year to move up to the No. 3 overall spot to draft Lance. The one thing Lance lacks is experience. He started just two games during his rookie campaign and played just 178 snaps serving as Garoppolo's backup. Throwing him into the starting lineup with so few in-game reps isn't risk-free. There could be a learning curve for the young quarterback, who just turned 22 on Monday. The rest of the roster, however, is built to win now.
"They need Trey Lance to get live reps," Sherman continued. "If the rumored schedule that came out of them playing Carolina and then Atlanta the first two games of the season is accurate, I definitely see Trey Lance starting in those games. I think those are two teams that are up and coming, who have pieces, but I think San Francisco would be, on paper, a lot better than those teams. They would expect to win [against] those teams.
"And they will be perfect games for Kyle [Shanahan] to draw up and scheme up plays to get Trey in his comfort zone and feel like they are in control of those ball games."
The other big storyline in Santa Clara is the rift between the 49ers and wide receiver Deebo Samuel. The star player recently requested to be traded, and the 49ers have made it clear that they have no intention of granting that wish.
Sherman doesn't see the Samuel situation as an issue for the 49ers—for now.
"Obviously, with the Deebo situation, he's under contract," Sherman noted. "So it's not really a tricky situation for them. They want to make him happy."
