The New England Patriots have finally decided to part ways Jimmy Garoppolo, and the San Francisco 49ers are the ones who pried him away.
ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported on Monday evening that the 49ers acquired Garoppolo for a 2018 second-round pick. Schefter says the teams began talking about the trade in the morning and agreed on a deal by the evening.
The 49ers were in bad shape at the quarterback position relative to the rest of the league. They signed Brian Hoyer as a stop-gap QB, but he struggled and was benched for third-round pick C.J. Beathard, who has been even worse. Their choices were to try and trade for a QB like Garoppolo, attempt to sign a guy like Kirk Cousins if he becomes a free agent, or try to draft and develop a QB, which they can still do.
It is somewhat surprising that this is all the compensation the Patriots received for Garoppolo. When the 25-year-old was part of trade rumors over the summer, reports said the Patriots were seeking multiple first-round picks for the QB. Considering he hasn’t played at all this season, it’s hard to believe his stock went down. That suggests either the reports from the offseason were incorrect, or something changed in New England.
