Jimmy Garoppolo May Have Hinted That he is 49ers Week 1 Starter

Jimmy Garoppolo may have spoiled the "secrecy" of who the 49ers Week 1 starter will be.

SANTA CLARA -- “I’ve got a pretty good idea."

That is what Kyle Shanahan said when asked if he knows who will be the Week 1 starting quarterback. This has been debated for months ever since Trey Lance was drafted. The heat turned up when Lance started lighting it up in training camp.  

"But as you guys can see with everything, I don't know our schedule a couple days from now. So, I've always had a pretty good idea. But, there's lots of days between now and then, at every position.”

As usual, Shanahan leaves the door open in case he ends up changing his mind. But it became a little evident on who the starting quarterback would be as Jimmy Garoppolo may have hinted that he is the 49ers Week 1 starter.

“Yeah, I have a pretty good idea," said Garoppolo. “It's whatever he decides, yeah. I have a pretty good idea. I'm pretty happy with where I'm at right now and everything and just the offense as a whole. Yeah, Kyle’s the head man. He'll make the call.”

Not really subtle there are you Jimmy?

I think it is safe to say that Garoppolo is the starter and it is something I expected. The only way for Lance to have dethroned Garoppolo's starting status is he needed to continue to stay hot in practice. That starting dying down once the 49ers reached double digit practice. Plus, he didn't really do a fully convincing job in his two preseason starts. 

As I stated in a previous article, Lance needed a strong showing against the Chargers to put the pressure on Shanahan. And Shanahan gave him all the opportunity to do so in that game. Lance just didn't steal the show until his fifth series and so on until he was pulled. Had he looked spectacular, then Shanahan had the perfect excuse as to why he would roll with Lance and not Garoppolo. Since that isn't the case, Lance is almost certainly going to remain the backup until Garoppolo plays himself out of favor or likely gets injured.

Shanahan still hasn't officially named a starter, and most likely won't until Week 1 of the regular season approaches. Here is what he had to say regarding the secrecy:

“I look at it more as what do you gain by naming it? If there would be one reason I can think of by naming it that would help it’d be to end those questions. If you could give me another reason that it’s a big advantage that helps our team, affects anything that has to do with us then I will name it. But I don't think it does. And you know, why tell people. I know you guys want an answer, which is fine. I get the suspense of it, but I'm not just going to answer it to end your guy’s suspense.”

As my editor Grant Cohn said to Shanahan as a follow up, "The suspense is great. Keep it going." 

Thanks for helping us out Shanahan.