NFL Analyst believes Jimmy Garopollo should backup Tom Brady in Tampa

Money will be a huge proponent to whether the fit is actually realistic.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have a starting quarterback that no one has a chance to unseat in 2022 in Tom Brady. The only reason that Brady won't play 90% of the offensive snaps this season would be because he's injured or the Buccaneers are spanking teams to the point where he's out by halftime.

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Outside of this year, there are still some question marks about Tampa Bay's quarterback situation moving forward. Brady is in the final year of his deal and it's unclear if he's interested in staying with the Buccaneers or will even continue to play football altogether. 

Former second-round pick Kyle Trask was subpar in the 2021 preseason and didn't dress for a regular-season game as a rookie. Based on the comments from the coaching staff, it appears Trask has yet to unseat veteran Blaine Gabbert as the No. 2 signal-caller. Considering the start to his career, the former Florida Gator is an unknown at this point and he's not someone the Buccaneers can risk hedging their bets on.

Gabbert and practice squad quarterback Ryan Griffin aren't the answer either. So who might be? Maybe a face that Brady isn't necessarily too fond of. 

On Thursday's edition of The Herd, media personality Colin Cowherd brought up veteran signal-caller Jimmy Garoppolo as a fit for Tampa Bay. There's been plenty of uncertainty surrounding Garoppolo's future in San Francisco due to the franchise's sizable draft investment in Trey Lance.

"You could bring him to Tampa behind Brady," Cowherd said. "Just say, ‘Hey, Kyle Trask isn’t ready next year, we are going to bring in Jimmy to back him up.’ I don’t know if the finances work, I haven’t looked at that. But to me, it would work solely because of Jimmy. I don't know if Tom would like it, but Jimmy would be fine with it."

That's one of the problems. At this point, the finances don't line up for Tampa Bay to add Garoppolo in a straight-up trade. The 30-year-old is entering the final year of a five-year/$137.5 million contract. His cap hit in 2022 sits at $26.95M compared to the Buccaneers' current projected cap space of $12.5 million per Spotrac.

However, depending on how desperate the 49ers are to move Garoppolo and what offers they receive, Tampa could take advantage of the situation. That could include providing enough outgoing money to acquire Garoppolo or forcing San Francisco to pay part of his salary to take him off the franchise's hands.

Garoppolo underwent surgery on his throwing shoulder earlier this offseason and might not be fully cleared for training camp. His value is decreasing as the rest of the league is aware that San Francisco is going to have to make an opening for Lance. With that being said, Cowherd believes the eight-year veteran plays to his role and will keep the locker room steady.

"Jimmy Garoppolo is the world’s best bridge quarterback," Cowherd said. "He wins, he has been in good games, he’s not that expensive, he’s willing to be a backup, he’ll never screw you at the podium, everybody in the room likes him, he’s got dude quality."

"… He has gone into Lambeau and beaten [Aaron Rodgers]," Cowherd continued. "He has played in cold weather and hot weather. He has played Mahomes in a Super Bowl. And he is good in the locker room."

The more you look at it, the more it seems like Tampa Bay would be taking a major risk by going out of its way to acquire Garoppolo. Outside of the massive cap figure in 2022, he will immediately require a contract extension that will be in the upper half of the league. 

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Plus, Garoppolo has an injury-plagued history that includes a torn ACL in 2018 and ankle and calf issues throughout 2020 and 2021. That's on top of the aforementioned injury to his shoulder that required surgery. 

Since being drafted in 2014, Garoppolo has completed an entire regular season of play just once. Some of that is skewed due to sitting behind Brady in New England but he's still missed 25 games in the last four years with San Francisco because of injuries. It simply might not be justifiable to put the future of the franchise in the hands of Garoppolo with the uncertainty of his availability.

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