Quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo joined his third franchise in his career this offseason. He signed a three-year deal with the Las Vegas Raiders, taking over as their starting quarterback after the franchise released Derek Carr earlier in the offseason.
Jimmy Garoppolo made the move to Sin City after spending the last six seasons with the San Francisco 49ers. He was the player head coach Kyle Shanahan personally picked to be his starter after acquiring him in a trade from the New England Patriots.
The Eastern Illinois product battled some injuries during his tenure in the Bay Area, but when he was healthy, the 49ers were consistently one of the best teams in the NFL. In his San Francisco career, the former second-round pick went 38-17. He played a large part in helping the team make the NFC Championship Game three times and one appearance in the Super Bowl.
Alas, the writing has been on the wall about Jimmy Garoppolo leaving for years. The 49ers moved up in the 2021 NFL Draft, trading a massive package of draft picks to the Miami Dolphins to acquire the No. 3 pick.
That selection was used on Trey Lance, who was expected to be the successor in San Francisco. After sitting behind Jimmy Garoppolo during his rookie season, his second offseason in the NFL was all about getting him ready to be the starter.
Lance took over as the No. 1 quarterback, pushing Jimmy Garoppolo into a backup role. The team attempted to trade him, but offseason surgery made that difficult. It ended up being a blessing in disguise for the 49ers, as Lance suffered a season-ending injury in Week 2, thrusting him back into the starting role.
A season-ending injury was suffered by him as well in Week 13. That led to Brock Purdy taking over as the starter and the rest is history. As a result, Lance was traded last week to the Dallas Cowboys, as he fell behind Sam Darnold on the depth chart as well.
It is something that the former 49ers franchise quarterback spoke out about. No longer with the franchise, Jimmy Garoppolo spoke freely about his own team and had some interesting words to say about them.
“There’s been a lot of weird situations in San Francisco recently. Just leave it at that,” as he referenced the Lance situation.
Jimmy Garoppolo certainly isn’t the only person who feels that way. There are several people perplexed by how the 49ers handled that situation. Many believe the team gave up on Lance too early, saying the trade with the Dolphins is one of the worst in NFL history.
