The San Francisco 49ers may need to make another bold move for a QB.
The reigning NFC Champion San Francisco 49ers find themselves in last place in the NFC West heading into week six of the NFL season with a 2-3 record and a lot of uncertainty at the quarterback position.
Jimmy Garoppolo has proven to be a decent starting quarterback in the NFL when he’s healthy, but he has struggled badly to do that — stay healthy — for all but two of the seasons he’s played in San Francisco since he started getting substantial playing time in 2016 (with New England).
In the 2017 season, the 49ers sort of had Garoppolo on ice until late in the year when he appeared in six games and started five, but in 2016 he suffered a torn ligament in his shoulder, then suffered a season-ending knee injury in 2018.
In 2020, he’s been dealing with an ankle injury and even after he was cleared by team doctors, he didn’t look like himself against the Miami Dolphins and played horribly. He completed just 7-of-17 passes for 77 yards with no touchdowns and two interceptions.
Frankly, the 49ers could upgrade on Garoppolo and even as well as he played in 2019 helping get them to the Super Bowl, that has been true for some time.
With a 2-3 start to the season and every team in the NFC West looking much better in 2020 than they were a season ago, the time could finally be here for San Francisco to upgrade their quarterback position.
Financially, it would make some sense after this season to move on from Garoppolo. He has a salary cap number of $26.9 million with a dead cap hit of just $2.8 million. Freeing up over $24 million in cap space sounds good on paper, but the 49ers would obviously have to have some kind of alternative in mind.
Luckily for Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch, there should be a number of quarterbacks — young and old — who could present long-term upgrades over Garoppolo.
Let’s take a look through some of the options.
1. Sam Darnold, New York Jets
Of all the teams that really should try to make a play for New York Jets quarterback Sam Darnold, the San Francisco 49ers are at or very near the top of the list.
NFL executives doubt that the New York Jets currently would be able to get back a 1st-round pick for Sam Darnold, though there is plenty of season left.https://t.co/PSzTeJaCyd
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) October 11, 2020
Darnold’s trade value has probably never been lower considering how poorly the Jets have been playing as a unit, how much Darnold has struggled due to the lack of offensive line pieces and weapons around him, and now adding in the fact that he suffered an injury that is causing him to miss some time.
The New York Jets likely don’t want to ‘sell’ Darnold when his value is this low, but a team like the 49ers should be calling to ‘buy’ as soon as possible, even if it means waiting for the 2021 offseason.
Darnold was the third overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft and the Jets really failed to surround him in terms of coaching and roster support, stunting his growth and causing him to look like a much worse prospect than he actually is.
Getting Darnold in with Kyle Shanahan would be a huge upgrade for Darnold’s NFL career, but it would also help him out to have a strong offensive line in front of him, and tremendous weapons at the skill positions starting with George Kittle, Deebo Samuel, and Brandon Aiyuk.
San Francisco making a play for Darnold would be beneficial for both parties.
2. Matt Ryan, Atlanta Falcons
It seems impossible because of the financial ramifications, but could Matt Ryan reunite with Kyle Shanahan in San Francisco?
The 49ers caught that winning feeling in 2019 and they don’t want to lose it now. Matt Ryan hasn’t been able to lead the Falcons back to prominence since Shanahan took the head coaching gig in San Francisco, so perhaps a reunion could work out well for both.
The Falcons would have to eat an ungodly amount of dead cap money (exceeding $40 million) to trade Matt Ryan next offseason, but what if they get the top overall pick? Are they going to pass on Trevor Lawrence?
With head coach Dan Quinn and general manager Thomas Dimitroff now looking for new jobs, Atlanta could soon find itself with a new brain trust all-around at GM, head coach, and QB.
Trading Matt Ryan to the 49ers would not be too costly for San Francisco, either, inheriting base salaries of $23 million, $16.25 million, and $20.5 million over the next three seasons.
3. Dwayne Haskins, Washington Football Team
Similar to Sam Darnold, Dwayne Haskins’ value has probably never been lower.
The former first-round pick out of Ohio State was benched by new Washington head coach Ron Rivera, and not only was he benched, the Washington Football Team made him their no. 3 quarterback instead of no. 2.
Haskins is clearly on his way out of Washington. Either that, or there’s going to be a lot of mending of fences to be done.
Just as it would be beneficial for Sam Darnold to get with Kyle Shanahan’s system, it would also be beneficial for Haskins to get into a great offense like this, one with so many big-time targets to get the ball to.
Shanahan has a proven track record of developing quarterbacks and maximizing their situation, and Haskins has a much higher ceiling than a player like Jimmy Garoppolo.
If Washington is trying to move on from the former first-round pick, San Francisco would be a fun landing spot.