What Would the Panthers Have to Trade Away to Land Jimmy Garoppolo?

Carolina continues its search for a new quarterback while San Francisco is ready to part ways with Jimmy G.

Veteran quarterback options are becoming sparse for the Panthers, who are still making an effort to bring in a new leader for the offense. Really the only big name remaining on the trade market is San Francisco's Jimmy Garoppolo. 

A year after trading up to the third pick in the draft to select Trey Lance, the 49ers appear ready to move on from Garoppolo and are ready to hand over the keys to the young gun. Garoppolo did suffer a shoulder injury in the Wild Card playoff win over the Dallas Cowboys, but still started and played the entire divisional game against Green Bay and the NFC Championship against the Rams. He recently underwent surgery to repair the shoulder and is now expected to be able to start throwing well before training camp, according to Mike Garafolo of the NFL Network.

Although Garoppolo holds a career 33-14 record as a starting quarterback in the NFL, he has been the beneficiary of a stout 49er defense. The other issue that comes with trading for him is his long history of injuries. Since arriving in San Francisco in 2017, he has only played one full season. He came close to doing so this season, but missed two games. Of the 76 possible games that Garoppolo could have played in with the 49ers, he's only started 45 of them. 

If the Panthers decide to pursue a trade for Garoppolo, they have to try and do so without trading the No. 6 overall pick or multiple high-end draft picks, which could be the asking price from San Francisco. According to Peter King of NBC Sports, he believes one of the best two options for the 49ers would be to trade Garoppolo to Carolina for Sam Darnold straight up.

"I don't think there's a good market at all. I think the 49ers are best off doing one of two things. Trying to trade him for Sam Darnold straight up with Carolina, because I think Carolina would view that as an improvement. Or hanging on to Jimmy until somebody gets hurt on August 28th. In that time, Jimmy Garoppolo is going to be healthy. He's going to be able to throw the ball well. There's nothing wrong with the 49ers waiting. They shouldn't hand him to somebody."

Based on everything I've heard, it seems very unlikely that the Panthers would only have to send Darnold to acquire Garoppolo. If that were the case, they would be doing exactly what King says the 49ers shouldn't do, which is handing him over to somebody.

If the Panthers make a play for Garoppolo, expect it to be more than a straight-up deal involving Sam Darnold. It would likely take two second-round picks or two day-two picks, per league source. Carolina doesn't have a second or third-round pick this year, so obviously they would have to deal future picks.

Garoppolo is only under contract through the 2022 season and carries a cap hit of $26.9 million. After reconstructing RB Christian McCaffrey's contract, the Panthers now have a little north of $28 million in available cap space.

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