49ers General Manager John Lynch and head coach Kyle Shanahan met the media on Monday for the first time since they agreed to trade the No. 12 pick in 2021, a 2021 third-round pick, and their next two first-round picks to the Dolphins for the third overall pick in this year’s draft.
That press conference opened up with a lot of questions about what this means for Jimmy Garoppolo’s future with the team. Lynch said that the team’s message to Garoppolo was that he “was very much still in our plans” for the coming season while saying that the team is comfortable with having him on the same depth chart with a rookie.
Shanahan said it will be hard to find a quarterback better for the team than Garoppolo in the draft while echoing Lynch’s assessment of the situation and sharing a glimpse into how the older quarterback responded to the trade.
“Jimmy wasn’t totally excited about it but he handled it great like he always does,” Shanahan said. “We still plan on him leading us and getting as far as we can with him.”
Lynch and Shanahan both said they wanted to improve the overall quarterback depth chart with Shanahan adding that they felt they were going to “get left at the altar sitting there at No. 12.” That led them to shake up the top of the draft order and create some intrigue about who will be their quarterback to kick off the 2021 season.