Jimmy Garoppolo, San Francisco 49ers. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images)
Why be good for a few years when you can be good for a decade? No, the San Francisco 49ers shouldn’t dump Jimmy Garoppolo in favor of Tom Brady.
The San Francisco 49ers already have a franchise quarterback and his name is Jimmy Garoppolo.
San Francisco should leave well enough alone. This is a franchise that went from having the No. 2 overall pick in last spring’s draft to making it all the way to the Super Bowl last month. While adding defensive end Nick Bosa with that No. 2 pick certainly helped, San Francisco improved this dramatically largely from the play of Garoppolo.
Last year was Garoppolo’s first full season as an NFL starting quarterback. He played sparingly with the New England Patriots before being traded to the 49ers at midseason in 2017. With massive expectations for 2018, Garoppolo sadly tore his ACL in September and the 49ers’ season cratered. He’s a top-12 quarterback in football and San Francisco shouldn’t ditch him.
It should not matter his former Patriots teammate Tom Brady is hitting unrestricted free agency. Brady will be 43 years old next season and Garoppolo is still on the good side of 30. Who cares if Brady grew up as a 49ers fan and as a preschooler was there when Dwight Clark made “The Catch”?
San Francisco can’t be this dumb to “swap” quarterbacks with New England.
If the 49ers were to replace Garoppolo with Brady, their ceiling remains the same. San Francisco would still have the best odds to represent the NFC in Super Bowl LV next year. The 49ers will still battle the Seattle Seahawks for NFC West supremacy with the Los Angeles Rams and even the Arizona Cardinals nipping at their heels. Swapping Garoppolo for Brady changes next to nothing.
No, this isn’t that hard. The 49ers should grow and learn from their Super Bowl defeat and not blow up what is already a pretty good thing out of impulse. Garoppolo will be the 49ers’ starting quarterback for the next decade and he is certainly good enough to help San Francisco win Lombardi Trophy No. 6.