The San Francisco 49ers are supremely happy that Jimmy Garoppolo is their starting quarterback of the future. The team is so happy about Garoppolo’s prospects that they gave him a massive contract extension this offseason despite starting just five games for the team following his trade from New England last November.
However, that didn’t mean that 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan wasn’t a bit wistful about the prospect of a reunion with Kirk Cousins going out the window following the trade.
49ers General Manager John Lynch said in an interview with ESPN Radio that Shanahan was initially “in mourning” following the trade.
“For Kyle, I think the thing I would tell people is we made the trade and then there were some days that Kyle Shanahan was like in mourning, because I think everybody knows his master plan was to have Kirk Cousins come in eventually,” Lynch said, via WEEI.
“I was proud of Kyle. Because I think he knew that this was the right thing for our franchise, and he didn’t hesitate. But even then Jimmy had to really prove himself. I think it was really smart. (Kyle) didn’t play him right away. He waited until he had some semblance of an understanding of our scheme when he did put him in. And he put him in in a position to succeed. And then I would tell you that Jimmy really impressed Kyle, to the point that he said, This is our guy.”
The trade for Garoppolo doesn’t get made without Shanahan being on board with the decision. Nevertheless, Shanahan coached Cousins in Washington and succeeded with the now Minnesota Vikings signal caller. Acquiring Garoppolo meant closing the door on Cousins and it took some time for Shanahan to completely move on from the idea that had lingered for some time.
The way Garoppolo played in those five starts likely assuaged any lingering concerns Shanahan may have had as well.