The 49ers glanced at Tom Brady last offseason. They stuck with Jimmy Garoppolo, and he played only six games because of high ankle sprains.
This offseason again has offered uncertainty about Garoppolo’s future with the 49ers, even as General Manager John Lynch said he has “no doubt” Garoppolo will start at quarterback for the team in 2021 if healthy. It’s that “if healthy” that remains a question.
Garoppolo has missed 23 games the past three seasons with injuries, starting all 16 in 2019 when the 49ers won the NFC title.
Fullback Kyle Juszczyk said he believes Garoppolo is unbothered by the speculation.
“I think it would be naive to say that he doesn’t hear any of it, but the guy really doesn’t hear a lot of it,” Juszczyk told The Pat McAfee Show on Monday via 49ers Webzone. “He’s not super active on social media. I mean, you’ll see the guy post like once a month on his Instagram, and it’s usually some sort of ad for some high-end car dealership or something. I don’t think he has a Twitter account, and if he does, he’s not very active on it.
“And I know he keeps things really close in-house. The guy hangs out with his brothers, mostly. Spends a lot of time with his family, just kind of has a tight-knit group of guys, and so he’s not really putting himself out there and letting himself listen to that kind of stuff because I think he knows how toxic it can be and what it can lead to. You’ve seen in other situations where guys just get hammered down reading negative things about themselves.”
The 49ers would be crazy not make a phone call if the Texans put Deshaun Watson on the trade block. Or, owning the 12th overall choice, the 49ers could look to draft their future franchise quarterback.
So speculation about Garoppolo’s job likely isn’t going away anytime soon.