Patriots coach Bill Belichick said during a conference call on Tuesday that he wouldn’t delve into the details of the conversations that the team had leading up to their decision to trade quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo to the 49ers, but 49ers General Manager John Lynch was willing to share one nugget of information in comments for the team’s website.
While discussing Garoppolo’s relative inexperience, Lynch said that the team has done a lot of homework on Garoppolo’s work in both the preseason and regular season over the last four years and that their desire to add him to the roster didn’t just pop up this week.
“We studied him hard,” Lynch said. “We studied him hard this offseason. We tried to do a deal this offseason. It didn’t come to fruition. It presented itself now and we felt like it was an opportunity we had to jump at.”
Belichick said the Patriots “rode it out as long as we could” with Garoppolo, but that this year’s trade deadline represented the last opportunity to make a move because they weren’t keeping both Garoppolo and Tom Brady.
Lynch also confirmed that the 49ers will be releasing Brian Hoyer and said that the team hasn’t soured on the long-term prospects for C.J. Beathard. Lynch pointed out that Garoppolo’s experience with the Patriots is one that Beathard could take as a reminder that things can work out down the road, although the hope in Santa Clara is that Garoppolo’s the right man for their offense.