The 49ers may not make any changes to the quarterback. At least not with their appetizer. All signs after week 17 indicate that Garoppolo will start under center to start next season. Even if that’s the case, San Francisco still needs to address the elephant in their quarterback address.
With Garoppolo’s injury history – he has started to miss 25 out of a potential 57 times since his first opportunity for the Patriots in 2016 – the 49ers need to figure out a better contingency plan if he gets hurt.
Teams generally do not plan to drop their starting quarterbacks, but San Francisco has too good a rankings to derail an injury to a quarterback who has missed so much time this season. Nick Mullens is unable to keep the team going for more than one or two games. The same can be said for CJ Beathard.
All three of the players arrived in Santa Clara in 2017, and they have been the trio of backs since 2018. There was also no serious competition for any of them.
Head coach Kyle Shanahan told reporters at a video conference on Monday that this season would be different from the perspective of the quarterback evaluation.
“Yes, we will investigate it harder this year, but not for something to make a big statement or to tweet about,” Shanahan said. ‘Last year I was very happy with our starting quarter. I was very happy and satisfied with our second string. I was very happy and satisfied with our third string. They were all under contract. We were good to go. ”
Then Shanahan provided an insight into the club’s strategy in the 2020 draft. Their closet was relatively bare, and they had to do a few acts to eventually walk away with five choices. It sounds like in a more normal year where they entered the concept with seven or more choices, San Francisco might have drafted a quarter in Shanahan’s office for the second time.
“In the off-season, it looked like we had about three drafts,” Shanahan said of the draft process in 2020. “I think we had one in the first and then we didn’t have one yet, just like the fourth. So it’s: ‘All right. We do not even touch quarter. All three of us are doing well. We do not have to look at it much. ‘”
They end up with two wide receivers, a tight end and a lineout on either side of the ball.
There was a brief hiatus in the off-season, where rumors about the free-back and Tom Brady, bay native, wanted to play for his hometown club. After internal discussions, Shanahan and John Lynch, general manager, decided to stick with Garoppolo.
“Of course, if someone like the greatest player who has ever played football looks at it, regardless,” Shanahan said of Brady’s free agency. “Besides, we were not because of our situation.”
Then Shanahan discusses this off-season and the 49ers’ looming rugby quarter. Last year it was not so worrying as Garoppolo was giving up a season of 16 games, Nick Mullens looked like a capable no.
Now the two reserves are going to hit free agencies, forcing the 49ers to address the quarterback depth card. Shanahan explained that although the club was happy with Mullens and Beathard, it would look harder at other options than in the past.
‘This year, our backup and our third at the moment, we are limited and unlimited. “So you have to research everything if you want to fill in a quarterly list,” Shanahan said. ‘We have a starting quarters, but to know where these guys are going to be, we need to re-sign the guys we got or see if we can upgrade them through the concept or a free agency. To be able to do this, you need to evaluate everything so that you know how to stack it and such. So I will definitely be looking at a lot more of these things this year than we did last year. ‘
It is difficult to predict after the club’s struggles with the backs in place of Garoppolo that the 49ers would opt for the same group. In fact, they may be looking for a substantial upgrade that could eventually give them the chance to drop Garoppolo, whose contract expires after the 2022 season.
The wheels are turning for the first time in three years in the San Francisco quarterback room, and the way they sail through the waters can have a ripple effect that determines the club’s long-term future as a centerpiece.