JIMMY GAROPPOLO
Just as they did a few weeks earlier in December, John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan during their 2020 season-wrap news conference doubled-down on their proclamation that Jimmy Garoppolo will be the 49ers’ starting quarterback again in 2021.
“Kyle and I both have spoken and spoken fairly directly as to the fact that we expect Jimmy to be our quarterback,” Lynch said.
“I’ll just echo on that,” Shanahan said. It’s an echo that will carry the 49ers into an uncertain offseason at the quarterback position since Garoppolo did nothing during his injury-plagued 2020 season to suggest he’s getting better as a quarterback or is still the guy to take the 49ers forward behind center as San Francisco attempts to bounce back from an unexpected last-place finish that kept the defending NFC champions out of the playoffs.
Who really knows what the 49ers are thinking? After watching Garoppolo struggle to stay healthy while missing most of the season to injury for the second time in three years, can they really be as committed as they say to a veteran who will turn 30 this year in his eighth NFL season?
Those questions also will echo and reverberate throughout the NFL while the 49ers consider their myriad options at the game’s most important position during the upcoming months.
It could be time for San Francisco to make a change and move on from Garoppolo, which is what several NFL analysts have professed the 49ers will do. Now could be the best time to do it, and there are several factors that suggest it could be what’s best for the team.
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EIGHT IS ENOUGH
Set 49ers lineup still has several new starters
Calling all cornerbacks
Loss of Verrett exposes 49ers’ thin depth at CB
Always finding their way to run
49ers system accomplished at developing homegrown talent
ANOTHER COMEBACK?
Resilient veteran Verrett to miss rest of season
TOP 10 Rookie running backs
THE BACK LIST
STOCK UP STOCK DOWN
DEOMMODORE LENOIR | AMBRY THOMAS
Will Mostert run for 49ers again?
Raheem Mostert was primed this year to be the centerpiece of one of the NFL’s most dynamic offenses, featured as the lead performer in San Francisco’s grinding rushing attack while making his climb among the league’s top running backs.
THE WONDER OF WARNER
49ers make All-Pro star highest-paid LB in NFL
Making the right choice at QB
In the weeks that follow after you read this — and perhaps sometime even sooner than that — Kyle Shanahan and the rest of the 49ers organization will make a titanic decision that will have present, future and perhaps even everlasting implications for the franchise. It will chart the course for the team’s pivotal 2021 season while determining whether San Francisco really does have the juice to return to powerhouse status and again be considered a legitimate contender to get back to the Super Bowl.
TOP 10 Linebacker seasons
Fred Warner vaulted to stardom with a spectacular 2020 season — and the 49ers rewarded him this summer with a $95.225 million deal that makes him the highest-paid inside linebacker in NFL history. By today’s standards, Warner’s performance last year was worth the money as he posted an Approximate Value of 19 — matching the highest score ever recorded by a San Francisco defender according to a Pro Football Reference formula that puts a single number on each player-season across all positions since 1960. Patrick Willis and NaVorro Bowman (twice) also had seasons with an AV of 19 as they dominate this list of the greatest individual seasons by a linebacker in 49ers history.
