By Ari Meirov
With the 49ers in last place in the NFC West and with Jimmy Garoppolo sidelined due to an ankle injury, the speculation on the quarterbacks future is starting to heat up.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Shanahan sounded like someone who still believes in Garoppolo.
“I expect Jimmy to be our starter next year,” Shanahan said. “I mean, I expect him to come play with us this year after he recovers. We have six games left. We are not out of the playoffs yet. I’ve been on a team that was 3-6 going into a bye week that ended up winning their division.”
“To think that we’ve made any decisions on anybody going into the future isn’t the case. Jimmy’s won a lot of games for us this year. It’s a lot harder to win games when he’s not here, and I’m just hoping we can get him back.”
Garoppolo has two years and no guaranteed money left on his contract, which at least opens the door to the possibility of making a switch this offseason. General manager John Lynch admitted back in April that the team considered pursuing Tom Brady before deciding to stick with Garoppolo.
In six games this season, Garoppolo has seven touchdown passes and five interceptions. His injuries have become a serious problem. In 2018, he tore his ACL in Week 3. This season, he missed two games early on with an ankle injury, and then re-injured the ankle after coming back and was placed on Injured Reserve.
Moving on from Garoppolo would leave just $2.8 million in dead money. Some have suggested that Shanahan may want to reunite with Matt Ryan, who won an MVP with Shanahan as his offensive coordinator in 2016. The 49ers also recently scouted BYU quarterback Zach Wilson, but general manager John Lynch said there was no connection to Garoppolo because you have to “prepare for everything” as an organization.
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