The San Francisco 49ers will be moving on from the Jimmy Garoppolo era and turning to a quarterback with major upside.
Head coach Kyle Shanahan on Tuesday confirmed that the team has “moved on to Trey [Lance].”
“That’s nothing against Jimmy,” said Shanahan.
“We made that decision a year ago and we’re not going to mess around with that anymore…. Jimmy understands that fully. He’s a big guy and it’s nothing against him. It’s a business decision.”
This was always the inevitable future when the 49ers traded up to third overall in a deep quarterback draft class to take Trey Lance out of North Dakota State.
The team sent three first-round picks and a third-round selection to acquire the third overall pick in 2021 from the Miami Dolphins.
The comments today come after the 49ers gave reportedly gave Garoppolo’s agents permission to explore a trade.
Meanwhile, Shanahan noted it has been tough to trade Garoppolo this offseason due to him coming off shoulder surgery – with other teams concerned over his health.
While Garoppolo has been cleared to return to the practice, Shanahan is hoping to trade the quarterback “as soon as we can.”
Garoppolo has spent the past five seasons with the 49ers.
With the team, he has thrown 66 touchdown passes to 38 interceptions.
In the 2021 season, Garoppolo completed a little above 68% of his passes.
The 49ers in 2017 acquired Garoppolo for a second-round pick from the New England Patriots.
This time, it’s unclear if the 49ers will be able to trade Garoppolo, who is set to make $25 million next year.
If not, the 49ers could release the 30-year-old and allow him to hit the open market.
Lance, on the other hand, will look to build off 2021 and start the bulk of the 49ers’ games this season.
Last year, Lance threw five touchdown passes to two interceptions and completed under 58% of his passes.
