Though head coach Kyle Shanahan and General Manager John Lynch have expressed confidence in Jimmy Garoppolo, the 49ers could still upgrade their quarterback in the 2021 offseason.
San Francisco reportedly inquired about trading for Matthew Stafford, though that clearly did not work out. Still, the club still has plenty of avenues to potentially change quarterbacks.
But tight end George Kittle was on NFL Network’s Good Morning Football on Tuesday and once again endorsed his current QB.
“I still believe in Jimmy G. I think he’s an incredible quarterback. I think he can lead us to another Super Bowl. I think we can win a Super Bowl with him,” Kittle said, via NFL Media. “I can’t even talk enough about his leadership skills on and off the field. I feel like I’ve answered this question about 200 times now since I last talked to you guys after last Super Bowl, but I’ll keep dying on the sword because I think Jimmy G’s a fantastic quarterback. He’s got an amazing release, got a great arm and a great touch. So I’m happy to have Jimmy G as my quarterback and I know that we can win with him.”
Kittle dismissed the rumors of the 49ers potentially moving on from Garoppolo as just offseason talk and chatter saying, “What else is there to talk about except our handsome quarterback, Jimmy G?”
But because San Francisco made a pass at Stafford, this situation doesn’t appear to be standard offseason rumors. Garoppolo has been plenty effective as San Francisco’s quarterback when healthy, as evidenced by the 49ers’ conference championship in 2019. But he’s only made it through one full season in three years. San Francisco doing its due diligence on all available quarterbacks makes plenty of sense.