With Trey Lance out for the 2022 NFL season, the San Francisco 49ers are rolling with Jimmy Garoppolo for the rest of the year. But during the offseason they apparently had one team in mind for a potential trade.
In a recent column for ESPN, NFL insiders Tim Keown and Nick Wagoner reported that the Washington Commanders were poised to become Garoppolo’s trade destination.
However, the trade was nixed when Garoppolo needed surgery on his shoulder. A few days after the Commanders learned that he was getting surgery, they traded for Carson Wentz instead.
“According to multiple league sources, the Niners believed one of those teams — the Washington Commanders — was poised to become Garoppolo’s next NFL home,” Keown and Wagoner wrote. “But that plan was scuttled soon after; Garoppolo’s shoulder wasn’t healing as he and his medical team hoped. After further consultation with doctors, Garoppolo and his representatives opted for surgery that set the beginning of training camp as a target date for a full recovery. By March 1, the plan became public knowledge, and eight days later the Commanders moved on, trading for Indianapolis quarterback Carson Wentz.”
The rest is history: Garoppolo stayed on the 49ers, reworked his contract and went into the 2022 season as the backup quarterback to Trey Lance.
But now that Lance is hurt, Garoppolo will be the man at least until the end of the season (barring an injury).
Should the Commanders have made the trade for Garoppolo when they had the chance?