49ers Retaining Jimmy Garoppolo in 2022 Would be Ludicrous

Rumors suggest the 49ers could retain Jimmy Garoppolo in 2022.

A victory Monday for the 49ers just can't be savored.

Peter King of NBC Sports has reported that the 49ers have not yet decided how to handle their quarterback situation in 2022. King cites that he has been told that the coaching staff is "impressed" with how Jimmy Garoppolo has handled the 49ers trying to replace him this year by his professionalism.

Amazing. 

Simply amazing.

To change the mind of the 49ers just by "professionalism" would be quite something. There is absolutely no way or justifiable cause for the 49ers to stick with Garoppolo past this season. There just isn't. All of this is laughable and delusional.

The 49ers retaining Garoppolo in 2022 would be ludicrous.

From the very moment they retain him, the trade up for Trey Lance will look insane. Rather than emptying the savings account by trading up multiple first-round picks, the 49ers could have just stood pat where they were in the 2021 and drafted Mac Jones. Assuming a quarterback still would've been the goal to attain, then Jones would have made more sense from a team building standpoint. 

The 49ers would have been able to keep all those picks that they could have used to supplement areas impacted by the contract of Garoppolo. And that is where I see it as an act of delusion by the 49ers. They cannot keep him for another year under that abysmal contract. It is going to hurt areas of need for the team where they can address it via free agency.

This is what makes Lance so attractive for 2022. Having more room in salary cap space with the cap rising and Garoppolo off the books gives them more power to reel in some talent. They are going to need it, especially without serious ammo in the draft. 

All of this reported/rumored indecision on the quarterback position after this season from the 49ers is ridiculous. Personally, I see no way that any of what King is hearing is real. If anything, it is to use King as a medium to boost the trade value of Garoppolo. Right now, I do not see how Garoppolo fetches more than a fourth-round pick for the 49ers. Not unless he starts to pick up these last four games and plays well in the playoffs.

Aside from that, it makes no sense to keep Garoppolo.

Prolonging the development of Lance another year would be malpractice from the 49ers. It is already a blow that they burned a year of Lance's cost controlled rookie contract. They cannot burn a second year and ruin the optimal team building process. Most importantly, they cannot keep him off of the field and put his development on the shelf. That will be three years in a row for him of not playing football consistently. 

Do not think twice about it. Trade Garoppolo and hand the keys to Lance in 2022. This is why the 49ers traded up all of those resources for Lance. They cannot suddenly have a change of heart when Garoppolo hasn't done anything differently on the field aside from prove why the 49ers traded up for Lance in the first place.