On the latest 49ers Talk podcast, Matt Maiocco explains why Alabama’s Mac Jones is the best fit for Kyle Shanahan’s offense among the quarterbacks potentially available with the third overall pick.
Coach Kyle Shanahan gave Jimmy Garoppolo a call Friday morning to explain the situation.
This situation is this: The 49ers will select a quarterback in the draft to eventually replace Garoppolo.
But, first, the 49ers expect Garoppolo to play winning football until the youngster is ready to take over.
Stay in the game with the latest updates on your beloved Bay Area and California sports teams! Sign up here for our All Access Daily newsletter.
Garoppolo was disappointed to learn the news, but he remained professional.
“(I) called him first thing and had a good conversation with him,” Shanahan said Monday on a video call with Bay Area reporters. “Obviously, no one wants to hear that. He wasn’t totally excited about that, like you’d expect. Jimmy handled it great, like he always does.”
The 49ers completed a trade with the Miami Dolphins on Friday to pick up the No. 3 overall selection in next month’s NFL draft. The 49ers sent their selection at No. 12 overall to the Dolphins, along with first-round picks in 2022 and ’23, as well as a third-round draft choice in 2022 in the deal.
Trevor Lawrence and Zach Wilson are expected to be the top two selections in the draft. Justin Fields, Trey Lance and Mac Jones are in the running for the 49ers to select with the No. 3 overall pick.
San Francisco 49ers
But the 49ers are not ready to cast aside Garoppolo quite yet. And Shanahan explained that to him.
“We were very straight up with each other,” Shanahan said. “I told him how we felt. It doesn’t change any of his circumstances right now. He’s still coming in here and trying to lead this team.
“I told him how excited I was that free agency went a lot better than we anticipated with being able to sign a lot more of our own players than we had thought going into it and that we got a real good team coming back here, and we still plan on him leading us and getting as far as we can with him.”
The 49ers are 22-8 in the 30 regular-season games Garoppolo has started with the organization. Garoppolo has missed 23 starts due to injuries. He appeared in just six games last season due to two high ankle sprains. In 2018, he missed 13 games after sustaining a torn ACL in his left knee.
While Garoppolo handled the bad news in a professional manner, Shanahan also believes privately he is seething.
"I'm sure Jimmy was a little pissed off from it, just like I would be, too," Shanahan said. "But me knowing Jimmy, he'll be fired up and come in and he'll work his butt off. Knowing Jimmy, the more mad Jimmy gets, usually the better he gets.
"So if Jimmy just gets madder and he stays healthy, I mean, this is going to be a good thing for Jimmy, too, which could be a great problem for the 49ers."
RELATED: How Jones feels about 49ers potentially targeting him in draft
The 49ers believe Garoppolo still gives the 49ers a better chance to win this season than a rookie quarterback.
General manager John Lynch said he called Garoppolo later in the day and emphasized that point.
“The message was what we are doing, why we were doing it, and how he is still very much a part of our plans,” Lynch said.
Download and subscribe to the 49ers Talk Podcast
