At this point last offseason, no one expected Jimmy Garoppolo to return to the San Francisco 49ers. However, due to a lack of interest following shoulder surgery, the veteran quarterback did return for one more season. Although, the 49ers attempted to get something for the player while they could.
Garoppolo will become an unrestricted free agent next week. His five-and-a-half seasons with the 49ers are coming to an end. This time, the quarterback is expected to garner much interest.
"NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport reported Wednesday that the Carolina Panthers, Houston Texans, and Las Vegas Raiders are teams likely to be interested in Garoppolo," wrote NFL Media's Grant Gordon.
Former 49ers passing-game coordinator Bobby Slowik, now the Texans' offensive coordinator, confirmed this week that his team is looking into many options, including possibly adding Garoppolo.
"We have a process we go through," Slowik said, per Pro Football Talk. "Jimmy is obviously part of that process. He's going to be a free agent. We grind through that as a coaching staff. We grind through that in the personnel department. We have conversations."
During San Francisco's end-of-season press conference, head coach Kyle Shanahan seemingly shut the door on a potential Garoppolo return. He was asked if he could envision a scenario where that might happen.
"No, I don't see any scenario of that," Shanahan responded bluntly.
If that wasn't evidence enough of a Garoppolo-49ers divorce, general manager John Lynch discussed his quarterback and soon-to-be free agent.
"And a lot of people want to talk about what we didn't accomplish with him," Lynch said last week at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis. "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."
The 49ers have two quarterbacks under contract beyond next Wednesday—Trey Lance and Brock Purdy. Garoppolo replaced Lance during Week 2 after the starter suffered a season-ending ankle injury. Purdy replaced Garoppolo in Week 13 after the veteran sustained a broken foot.
Purdy led San Francisco to the NFC Championship Game before suffering an injury himself—a tear of the ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) in his right elbow. He will undergo surgery on Friday.
Garoppolo completed 67.2 percent of his passes for 2,437 yards with 16 touchdowns and four interceptions through 11 game appearances (10 starts) with the 49ers last season, per Pro Football Reference.
