John Lynch: “I think Jimmy has got a really good trust in myself and Kyle [Shanahan], and I think you earn that. From day one we’ve been very upfront with Jimmy. When I went to Jimmy I told him the truth, like ‘look, we have made a decision that we’re going to pursue a quarterback this offseason. Jimmy, when you’ve played you’ve been tremendous and the record speaks to that. We feel like there’s room for growth when you’re on the field. The biggest thing has been it’s hard to keep you on the field.’ That’s not an easy thing to tell a player, but Jimmy took it tremendously. ‘But here is the good news, Jimmy, we don’t want you to go anywhere. We want you to be here and our ownership has made the commitment that we can do that, we can fit it in our cap, and we think it’s a good situation for you. Probably not the one you ultimately wanted to hear, I’m sure you want to be the long-term guy’, but the flipside to that is that he still could be. He’s going to have a chance to compete and earn that job. We’re just going to let it play out, Jimmy is a really good football player. I learned as a player that all you want is for people to look you in the eye and tell you the truth, and a little communication can go a long way and that’s what we tried to do with Jimmy… After the draft he was the first player to text Trey.” (Full Segment Above)
Listen to San Francisco 49ers general manager John Lynch discuss with Colin Cowherd what it was like notifying Niners starter Jimmy Garoppolo that the team was going to pursue a quarterback this offseason.
The Niners ended up drafted Trey Lance with the no. 3 pick in the 2021 NFL Draft after they had moved up nine slots in a trade with the Dolphins where they gave Miami their no. 12 pick, two future first rounds picks in 2022 and 2023, and a third-round pick in 2021 as well.
The 29-year-old Garoppolo is 22-8 as Niners starter and helped the team reach the Super Bowl in 2020 vs. the Chiefs, but he's made just 30 starts in San Francisco in four seasons, and was often phased out of San Francisco's offense during their playoff run two years ago, including an NFC Champion Game where he threw just 8 passes.
Check out the audio above as Lynch describes the class in which Garoppolo handled the difficult news, but why he also thinks this certainly isn’t the end for Jimmy G. with the 49ers.
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