The 49ers seem poised to roll into the 2021 season with Jimmy Garoppolo as their starting quarterback. That can’t preclude the team from addressing the position from a long-term angle this offseason though.
While it’d behoove San Francisco to add an improved backup for the potential event where Garoppolo is unavailable, they have to also consider the scenario where he underperforms this season and forces them to move on in 2022.
Head coach Kyle Shanahan has discussed how he believes Garoppolo is the starter, but they’d search for upgrades like they would at every other position. That’s just good team building, but another unspoken piece of the puzzle is Garoppolo’s contract. If the 49ers were confident in him to healthy and play at the level of a franchise signal caller, they’d extend him and potentially free up some cap space in a year where they’re up against it cap-wise. Instead they’re leaving his contract untouched, giving them the ability to move on from him for cheap.
The 49ers can’t simply add a backup and use a cursory pick on a quarterback just to fill out the roster. They need to, this year, identify a quarterback they believe can be the team’s franchise quarterback moving forward, and do what they can to acquire him – even if it means unloading significant draft capital to trade up. If that quarterback doesn’t exist in this draft, then they need to spend resources on the closest prospect to it.
What the 49ers risk by riding into 2021 with Garoppolo and no future prospects waiting in the wings is a disaster going into 2022. Perhaps Garoppolo gets hurt again or underperforms. They’d likely miss the playoffs and be in a spot next year where they’d be two years removed from their Super Bowl and in need of a quarterback. Waiting until 2022 runs the risk of starting a rookie which ostensibly wipes out a Super Bowl berth in the 2022 season given that no first-year quarterback has ever started in a Super Bowl.
The best-case scenario is they use a high pick on a quarterback this year, Garoppolo plays well, and they have two desirable signal callers. That’s a much better outcome than Garoppolo falling short again in 2021 and going into 2022 without a plan under center.
The position is too important for a team to go into a year with fingers crossed that a quarterback they’ve not committed to long-term suddenly figures it out and earns a lengthy extension. Perhaps that’s how it goes, but preparing for the worst leaves them in a much better position should Garoppolo play at a level that forces the club to go elsewhere with their quarterback.
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