As the 49ers’ trade options for Jimmy Garoppolo keep getting picked off petal by petal, very few options remain.
And now -- the big lingering question of the NFL offseason remains fixated on what the 49ers will be able to with Jimmy G.
While everyone is running around like a chicken without a head trying to figure out what is going on with the veteran QB, NBC Sports Peter King offered a pair of suggestions.
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“I don’t think there’s a good market at all,” King told Colin Cowherd on The Herd. “I think the 49ers are best off doing one of two things: Trying to trade him for Sam Darnold straight up with Carolina because I think Carolina would view that as an improvement.”
On this week’s episode of the QB circus, the Indianapolis Colts got Matt Ryan, the Atlanta Falcons acquired Marcus Mariota and the New Orleans Saints filled their QB needs with Jameis Winston, leaving only two teams as possible landing spots for Garoppolo.
The Panthers and the Seattle Seahawks (if the Houston Texans decide to go forward with Davis Mills).
But with the highly improbable likeliness of the 49ers trading within the division, a deal with the Panthers makes slightly more sense.
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Even Cowherd liked the idea.
“By the way, that’s a brilliant deduction,” Cowherd responded to King. “Darnold is a backup to Trey Lance that’s similarly athletic, good size, hard worker, liked in locker rooms, a little bit slow on the delivery, we don’t love Trey Lance aesthetically. That’s actually a brilliant idea, maybe you just solved the market.”
What’s King’s second suggestion for the Niners?
“Hanging on to Jimmy until somebody gets hurt on Aug. 28,” King said. “In that time, Jimmy Garoppolo is going to be healthy, is going to be able to throw the ball well, there’s nothing wrong with the 49ers waiting. They shouldn’t hand him to somebody.”
It’s not the worst last resort for San Francisco.
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But King believes if the 49ers had a private conversation with Garoppolo about trading him, the Panthers seem like the best choice right now. And if not, then there’s no need to panic.
“It could be that John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan looked Jimmy in the eye and said ‘We promise we’ll trade you’ or words to that effect,” King said. “If they did, they might have to do something like that. But if I were them right now, I would tell Jimmy ‘be patient, you’ll be somewhere by the trading deadline.”