The 49ers Should Trade Jimmy Garoppolo to the Patriots A.S.A.P.

Why wait?

Grant Cohn | Mar 9, 2021

Why wait?

Reports out of New England say the Patriots want Jimmy Garoppolo, they don't have a firm Plan B in place and they're willing to trade their second-round pick.

If that's the case, and I believe it is, the 49ers should pack Garoppolo's bags for him, drive him to the airport and pay for his plane ticket.

Make the freaking trade now. It can become official when the new league starts on March 17. Meaning Garoppolo should not be on the 49ers after that day.

The guy could sprain his ankle walking down the street or pull a muscle taking a shower. He's an accident waiting to happen. And the sooner the 49ers trade him, the sooner they can use the $24 million in cap space they would save by getting rid of him. And they can use that cap space to sign an excellent center and a terrific cornerback and another pass rusher.

Keeping Garoppolo doesn't help the 49ers. If they keep him until the draft and then take a quarterback, the Patriots offer for Garoppolo could go down. Because in that case, the 49ers wouldn't be able to pretend they still want Garoppolo. He'd be old news, the guy they'd have to get rid of.

The 49ers should trade Garoppolo back to the Patriots before they change their minds. The Patriots most likely are the only team desperate enough to trade a second-round pick for Garoppolo, because they can't afford to miss the playoffs again while Tom Brady potentially wins another Super Bowl in Tampa.

Pull the trigger, John and Kyle. Be bold.

Published Mar 9, 2021

GRANT COHN

Grant Cohn has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily since 2011. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat where he wrote the Inside the 49ers blog and covered famous coaches and athletes such as Jim Harbaugh, Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Willis. In 2012, Inside the 49ers won Sports Blog of the Year from the Peninsula Press Club. In 2020, Cohn joined FanNation and began writing All49ers. In addition, he created a YouTube channel which has become the go-to place on YouTube to consume 49ers content. Cohn's channel typically generates roughly 3.5 million viewers per month, while the 49ers' official YouTube channel generates roughly 1.5 million viewers per month. Cohn live streams almost every day and posts videos hourly during the football season. Cohn is committed to asking the questions that 49ers fans want answered, and providing the most honest and interactive coverage in the country. His loyalty is to the reader and the viewer, not the team or any player or coach. Cohn is a new-age multimedia journalist with an old-school mentality, because his father is Lowell Cohn, the legendary sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1979 to 1993. The two have a live podcast every Tuesday. Grant Cohn grew up in Oakland and studied English Literature at UCLA from 2006 to 2010. He currently lives in Oakland with his wife.