Report: 49ers still plan to start Lance, trade Jimmy G in ’22 originally appeared on NBC Sports Bayarea
Jimmy Garoppolo has been playing some of the most efficient football of his career in recent weeks, but that apparently does not mean the organization’s long-term plans have changed.
NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport said Sunday morning that the organization’s plans still are to start Trey Lance next season, and look for a trade destination for Garoppolo.
“Allow me to shut that door, absent a Super Bow run, which at this point is still theoretically possible, this is the 49ers’ plan next season. Start Trey Lance, trade Jimmy Garoppolo,” Rapoport said on NFL Network. “Not a surprise there, they’ve been pretty up front about that. What Garoppolo is doing now is increasing the value of picks the 49ers get in a trade involving him and make it more likely that a place he wants to go would want to take him.”
Rapoport was responding to comments earlier this week from Kyle Shanahan about Garoppolo’s future with the 49ers.
“There’s a chance for anything, but I think we’ve made it pretty clear that Trey is our guy of the future — whenever that happens,” Shanahan said on Wednesday.
“But it’s also nothing against Jimmy that we took him (Lance). We do believe Trey will our guy for the future. And like I said, I think it would be really hard if Jimmy’s on it for him (Lance) to beat him out right away. So it’s kind of going like that right now. And we’re not getting much past that.”
Garoppolo also said he did not want to completely rule out his return in 2022, but wanted to remain focused on the 49ers’ goals for this season.
“Honestly, with the possibilities, I try not to close any doors too early,” he said. “It’s one of those situations where you got to let it play out, I think.
“We got a lot going on with the season right now. You start thinking about those other things, you just get distracted. When we cross that bridge, we’ll assess everything then.”
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Garoppolo has been the NFL’s most efficient passer over the past four weeks by a substantive margin, and the 49ers have won three of four to jump back into the playoff conversation.
Over the last month (since his return to hometown Chicago), Jimmy Garoppolo has been by far the most efficient QB in football and also one of the most accurate. #49ers pic.twitter.com/ZOBGT4O0yR
— David Lombardi (@LombardiHimself) November 22, 2021
Lance has seen limited action, with just one start and a total of 116 snaps over five games.
The rough performances of his four fellow first-round rookie quarterbacks likely has reinforced to Shanahan and general manager John Lynch that they have made the right decision in keeping Lance sidelined for Garoppolo.
The one caveat Rapoport mentioned is a Super Bowl run could change things. That remains a possibility, especially if the 49ers can get a win over the Minnesota Vikings in a critical Week 12 showdown.
Ultimately, this should not come as much surprise. As Rapoport mentioned, the 49ers publicly have maintained this stance since Lance was drafted back in April.
Unless the 49ers are hoisting the Lombardi Trophy in February at SoFi Stadium, expect the Lance era to begin in 2022.