The San Francisco 49ers’ quarterback room is one of the top storylines to follow in the coming weeks.
Veteran quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo is a free agent. Trey Lance is coming off surgery on a fractured ankle, and Brock Purdy is set to undergo surgery on his UCL. The latter is expected to be out of football activities until August.
49ers general manager John Lynch touched base on the team’s status with Garoppolo, and he even responded to an inquiry about the Tom Brady-to-San-Francisco rumors. For starters, Lynch confirmed that the team won’t be bringing back Garoppolo in 2023, via David Bonilla of 49ers Webzone:
“First of all, with Jimmy, Jimmy has been tremendous for us. In our first year, at the end of the year, we do a trade, and Jimmy comes in, lights it up. And a lot of people want to talk about what we didn’t accomplish with him. What I know is we won a lot of football games with Jimmy. We admire his toughness. We admire the teammate that he was.
“I know everyone wants to talk about some discourse and all that, but I do believe that it’s probably run its course. But I think we leave with nothing but fond memories for Jimmy, and Jimmy is going to go play good football for someone.”
Lynch also admitted that the team “may have to look into the quarterback market…to insulate ourselves from whatever may happen.” But when asked about Brady, Lynch wouldn’t say too much, per Bonilla:
“I sent him a text when he retired. He was a teammate for about three weeks at one point. So I sent him a text, just congratulations on one of the greatest careers that I’ve ever seen in any sport. And I wished him the best, so we’ll leave it at that.”
Brady’s contract with the Buccaneers was slated to expire after this season, and he was widely linked to the 49ers in free agency. But the seven-time Super Bowl championship announced his retirement for a second time on Feb. 1, and up to this point, he hasn’t given any major hints that he would come back for a 24th season.
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The 49ers traded up to take Lance third overall in 2021. He entered 2022 as the starter but suffered the aforementioned season-ending ankle injury. Garoppolo took over as the starter until he suffered a foot injury in Week 14, and Purdy finished the season as the starter.
Purdy suffered his UCL injury in the NFC Championship Game against the Philadelphia Eagles, which San Fran lost 31-7.
