An interesting story from Kyle Shanahan illustrates just how much of a 180 Bill Belichick did on Jimmy Garoppolo.
The San Francisco 49ers on Thursday signed Garoppolo to a massive 5-year contract that will make him the highest-paid player on a per-year basis. They are obviously quite pleased with what he did for them in his first six games with them, and they know they’re lucky to get him.
In an article by Albert Breer on TheMMQB.com, Shanahan says he was shut down by Belichick upon asking about Garoppolo in March.
“And I remember asking Bill [Belichick] personally down at the combine about Jimmy, and very quickly he told me that wasn’t a possibility. So we moved on from that. He told me he wasn’t going to trade him,” Shanahan recalled.
The quote isn’t too big of a surprise considering ESPN’s Adam Schefter was adamantly reporting the same: Belichick was not trading Garoppolo. But that makes the trade all the more surprising.
The Patriots dealt Garoppolo to the 49ers in late October, just before the trade deadline. The deal came out of nowhere, and a report said that Belichick essentially gave Garoppolo to San Francisco without shopping him for the best return. And despite all information pointing to the contrary, reports say Patriots owner Robert Kraft did not force Belichick to trade Garoppolo.
