Report: Patriots willing to trade Jimmy Garoppolo for ‘at least’ first-round pick

With the number of teams that supposedly have interest in Jimmy Garoppolo, it may be impossible for the New England Patriots to turn down all trade offers for the backup quarterback this offseason. And if the price gets high enough, they probably won’t.

Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com reports that Bill Belichick will trade Garoppolo if the compensation is right, and that would likely mean “at least” a first-round pick. The Browns are one of several teams that are interested, and there’s a good chance the Patriots could start a bidding war leading up to the NFL Draft.

ESPN’s Ed Werder recently said he was told at the Super Bowl that the Patriots intend to keep Garoppolo through the final season of the 25-year-old’s contract. The Patriots themselves may have leaked that information to drive the price even higher, or it’s possible Belichick wants to keep Garoppolo around at cheap money for another season to see what happens with Tom Brady, who will turn 40 this offseason.

Brady has said he wants to play into his mid-40s, and he gave us no reason to doubt him while leading the Patriots to their fifth Super Bowl title. That said, Garoppolo looked sharp in his brief time as the starter last season, and Belichick may value the former Eastern Illinois star as injury insurance.

The narrative that keeps coming up is that the Patriots have to trade Garoppolo now or risk getting nothing in return for him next offseason, but that is not necessarily true. In 2009, New England placed the franchise tag on Matt Cassel before trading him to the Kansas City Chiefs for the No. 34 overall pick in the draft. Twitter wasn’t as popular back then, but it sure seems like there is more buzz surrounding Garoppolo than there was with Cassel.

One of the teams that is said to be high on Garoppolo has the No. 3 overall pick in the draft. If they’re willing to send that to New England, Belichick’s decision would become an easy one.