San Francisco 49ers

While most NFL teams have sorted their quarterback situations by now, San Francisco 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo remains an option for any team that hasn't resolved the position.

And according to ESPN's Jeremy Fowler, the Seattle Seahawks are still lurking as a potential suitor for his services (1:48 mark):

From @SportsCenter with @HannahStormESPN

*Deshaun Watson timeline

*49ers’ hurdles in a Jimmy Garoppolo trade

*Seattle has done its homework on the QB, at least worth watching here. pic.twitter.com/EweBXLeVEB

— Jeremy Fowler (@JFowlerESPN) July 11, 2022

"You have Seattle that's still out there," Fowler reported Monday. "They were sort of implicated in the Baker Mayfield situation, didn't make that move. I'm told that internally they have discussed the possibility of Garoppolo playing for them. They have done their filmwork to see how he would fit."

Fowler added that a few executives he spoke to believe the Niners are "a bit stuck" in the Jimmy G situation.

That is due in part to the Niners needing Garoppolo to pass a physical after his offseason shoulder surgery before they can trade him, and they'll likely need him to agree to take a pay cut next season on his $24.2 million base salary to facilitate a move.

Plus, the "pool of suitors right now seems to be pretty small" for Garoppolo's services, according to that report.

Add in the fact that the Niners would reportedly like to free up cap space to sign Nick Bosa and Deebo Samuel to long-term deals, per Fowler, and the leverage in this situation seems to be on buying side of the equation.

The Mayfield deal is a good example of what teams like the Seahawks will—or should—be looking for in a trade.

The Carolina Panthers not only gave up just a conditional fourth- or fifth-round pick in 2024 to land Mayfield, but they also will only be paying $4.9 million of his $18.8 million salary, per ESPN's Jake Trotter. The Browns, meanwhile, will pick up $10.5 million of the tab, and Mayfield agreed to convert the remainder of his salary to incentives,.

Garoppolo, 30, threw for 3,810 yards, 20 touchdowns and 12 interceptions in 15 games, completing 68.3 percent of his passes while leading the Niners to a 9-6 record in his starts and a playoff berth.

And while the Niners reached the NFC Championship Game, Garoppolo wasn't great in the postseason, throwing for 535 yards, two touchdowns and three interceptions while completing just 58.1 percent of his passes.

The knock against Garoppolo has long been that he's a solid game manager but can't make the big-time throws needed to be among the elite at the position. In turn, a talented Niners roster appears to have a ceiling with Jimmy G under center, leading the team to draft Trey Lance at No. 3 overall ahead of the 2021 season and handing him the reins this summer. Garoppolo is the classic "you can win with him, but you don't win because of him" player at the position.

But he would be an upgrade in Seattle over players like Drew Lock and Geno Smith, even if a pair of divisional rivals agreeing to a trade is uncommon and may require the Niners eating a chunk of Garoppolo's salary.

Though Jimmy Garoppolo remains on the roster without a clear exit plan, the San Francisco 49ers selected Trey Lance No. 3 overall last year. The team's prized draft pick from the 2021 class should see the field in a starting role for the 2022 season.

In April, general manager John Lynch expressed confidence in Lance as a competitor who's ready to take over the starting job while reports about a shift at quarterback caused a buzz:

"All these reports, I don't know where they all come from. We always believe in competition, but at the same time we are great believers in what Trey Lance brings to the table. We believe he is ready. He is going to have to show that. I think he's ready to show that to us, show that to his teammates, and show that to the world."

While Garoppolo healed from shoulder surgery on his throwing arm, Lance took all the first-team reps through mandatory minicamp, per The Athletic's Matt Barrows. Once the former starts to throw, the 49ers may try to trade him. If no team bites, they'll likely cut Garoppolo to save $25.6 million, per Over The Cap.

So, what does a transition from Garoppolo to Lance mean for the offense?

Let's start with the obvious difference.

The 49ers will have a more athletic signal-caller under center. While Garoppolo has the mobility to dart outside the pocket on bootlegs, Lance has the ability to turn a short loss or a dead-end play into a first down. We saw him in action on the run last year:

TOUCHDOWN, TREY LANCE. #FTTB

📺: #GBvsSF on NBC
📱: https://t.co/KgHDqDkg0d pic.twitter.com/mDBNVHtxYI

— NFL (@NFL) September 27, 2021

This 4th down pick up from Trey Lance 🔥 #FTTB

📺: #SEAvsSF on FOX
📱: NFL app pic.twitter.com/BaCMKZrNHr

— NFL (@NFL) October 3, 2021

First snap of the game and @treylance09 is on the move! #FTTB

📺: #SFvsAZ on FOX
📱: NFL app pic.twitter.com/wt9738bXje

— NFL (@NFL) October 10, 2021

As shown in the highlights above, opposing teams will need to look out for designed quarterback runs, especially in short-yardage situations and near the goal line. As a collegian at North Dakota State, Lance rushed for 1,325 yards (6.9 yards per carry) and 18 touchdowns in 19 games.

Head coach Kyle Shanahan may feel more comfortable with an aggressive approach on fourth down because of Lance's ability to move the chains with his legs. His ball-carrying prowess may be able to mask the loss of Pro Bowl guard Laken Tomlinson (free agency) and Pro Bowl center Alex Mack (retired).

While at spring practices, Barrows noted that Lance didn't use his legs a lot and focused on beating the defense through the air.

"Lance rarely took off and ran, concentrating instead on picking up yards with his arm," Barrows wrote.

Lance has to pose a realistic threat with his arm or else he's going to take a ton of hits on attempts to move the ball on the ground. The second-year quarterback only has two NFL starts on his resume and appeared in just seven games since 2020, dating back to his time with the Bison.

Shanahan can ease Lance into the lead role with a heavy dose of run-pass option designs to define his throws and open up passing windows.

Last year, Tua Tagovailoa and Jalen Hurts ranked No. 1 and 2, respectively, in passing yards out of RPO play calls. The latter ran the most RPO plays in the league, while the former ranked sixth. Both played with new offensive coordinators and still made notable strides in their second season. Shanahan can use a similar method with his young signal-caller.

With an RPO-heavy game plan, the 49ers can marry Lance's athleticism with the bread and butter of Shanahan's offense, the zone run scheme.

Defenders must respect San Francisco's ground attack, which ranked top-seven in yards for two of the last three years. As linebackers and safeties commit to stopping the run, Lance can pull the ball away from the ball-carrier's gut and distribute it to his pass-catchers, who will likely have one-on-one matchups. Like Tagovailoa and Hurts, he can significantly improve his completion rate between Year 1 and 2 in an offense that opens up passing lanes for him.

For comparison, Garoppolo has completed 50 of 68 passes for 740 yards, two touchdowns and an interception on RPO plays in his eight-year career.

Once Lance becomes more comfortable reading defenses, Shanahan may trust him to make pre-snap RPO decisions, which rely on the quarterback's ability to determine whether to pass or hand the ball off against specific looks and coverages before the center hikes the ball.

In an ideal setup, Shanahan would likely prefer a balanced offense, which allows the play-caller to attack defenses according to specific weaknesses. Some weeks, the 49ers can depend on their staple run game, but if beneficial, they should be able to attack holes in the secondary.

Based on the 49ers' pass-run ratio when Garoppolo played more than six games in a single season, they didn't fully trust him to beat defenses with his arm. In 2019 and 2021, he made no fewer than 15 starts, and the offense had the fourth-fewest pass attempts but ranked top-five in rush attempts for those campaigns.

Under Shanahan, the 49ers have used wideout Deebo Samuel in addition to several running backs to maintain an effective rushing offense. That's a necessary strategy when the quarterback is a game manager in a good number of matchups.

Now, the 49ers can use Lance's arm strength to open up the offense. As a result, we should see a more balanced attack and perhaps fewer carries for Samuel, who, according to NFL Network's Ian Rapoport, wants to play a traditional wide receiver role after logging 59 rush attempts for 365 yards and eight touchdowns in 2021.

Garoppolo has an average arm and has shown a tendency to heavily target the middle of the field and let outside cornerbacks off the hook (h/t Pro Football Focus via Niners Nation's Akash Anavarathan):

Here’s Jimmy Garoppolo’s targets from the 2021 season (via PFF’s QB Annual).

No one chart describes the #49ers’ offense better than this one.

Shanahan hammered Garoppolo’s strength all season long despite every defense trying to stop it. Pretty nuts. pic.twitter.com/MzPJooP3BR

— Akash Anavarathan (@akashanav) February 22, 2022

Lance can challenge defensive backs outside the numbers with the ability to make big plays downfield.

In his second career start, a Week 17 win over the Houston Texans, Lance had an average target depth of 12 yards. It's the highest single-game mark of any 49ers quarterback since Garoppolo averaged 13.3 yards in Week 14 against the Texans in 2017, per Pro Football Focus' Jeff Deeney.

For the 2021 season, Garoppolo tied for 22nd in intended air yards per pass attempt (7.5). In a small sample size (71 attempts), Lance averaged 9.3 intended air yards per pass attempt.

Last season, Garoppolo led the NFL in yards per completion (12.7), but he accomplished that feat as the league leader in average passing yards accumulated after the catch (6.5). Meanwhile, Lance averaged 14.7 yards per completion, but he moved the ball with more intended air yards (longer throws downfield).

Shanahan doesn't have to abandon his effective run schemes, but Lance adds a vertical dimension to the aerial attack that Garoppolo doesn't provide under center. Furthermore, with a passer more equipped to throw over the top, the 49ers may be able to unlock wideout Brandon Aiyuk's big-play ability. He averaged 17 yards per catch in two years at Arizona State.

With a mix of RPO designs, big-armed throws 20 to 30 yards downfield and a splash of off-script sequences that can result in first-down runs or extended plays to give pass-catchers more time to separate downfield, Lance should bring more excitement to the 49ers offense.

Of course, Shanahan and his coaching staff have to frame it all together in order for Lance to maximize his skill set, but he has the tools to add those dimensions to the game plan, which would elevate an offense that ranked 13th in scoring and racked up the seventh-most yards last year.

If Lance gets off to a good start in 2022, the 49ers offense will be fun to watch with some electrifying sparks mixed into the run and pass game.

Maurice Moton covers the NFL for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter @MoeMoton.

Former NFL and All-SEC Vanderbilt cornerback Jimmy Williams died Friday. He was 43.

What a sad reminder this is to not take anything for granted. I want his sweet family to know we love him and them.

— Candice Storey Lee (@VandyAD) July 8, 2022

Williams had suffered from an illness, according to The Advocate's Robin Fambrough. However, the cause of death has not been made public.

Williams starred for Vanderbilt from 1997 to 2000. In his first season with the team, he served as a running back, rushing for 527 yards and two touchdowns in addition to catching 23 passes for 189 yards and two scores.

After his freshman season, he primarily played as a defensive back, posting 10 interceptions from 1998 to 2000. He also served as a kick and punt returner, returning 73 kicks for 1,677 yards and one touchdown in his four collegiate seasons. He also returned 53 punts for 403 yards and one score.

The Buffalo Bills selected Williams in the sixth round of the 2001 NFL draft, but he never played a game for the franchise. He spent the first four seasons of his career with the San Francisco 49ers from 2001 to 2004.

In 50 games with the Niners, Williams posted one interception, six pass breakups, one forced fumble, four fumble recoveries, one sack and 88 tackles. He also returned 55 punts for 576 yards and one touchdown in addition to returning 49 kicks for 1,030 yards.

Williams spent the final two seasons of his career with the Seattle Seahawks from 2005 to 2006, posting two interceptions, seven pass breakups, two fumble recoveries and 50 tackles in 30 games. He also returned 38 punts for 241 yards.

Williams retired after the 2006 campaign and returned to his hometown of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. In 2011, he became a coach for the Episcopal School's football team, where he went to high school, and also served as a teacher.

Williams most recently was the team's defensive coordinator and assistant athletics director.

San Francisco 49ers legend Jerry Rice praised quarterback Trey Lance, saying the "sky's the limit" for the 2021 first-round pick, and warned the franchise against a potential timeshare with incumbent starter Jimmy Garoppolo if he's not traded.

Rice told the NFL Network's MJ Acosta-Ruiz on Thursday the team's coaching staff must make a decision before the start of the regular season and stick with it.

"I don't know what the Niners are going to do with Jimmy G and Trey Lance. I know one thing: We don't want that carousel of back-and-forth during the season," Rice said. "I think you have to name someone as the starter, you have to go with that individual and then you build around that quarterback."

Lance, the third overall selection in last year's draft, played a limited role behind Garoppolo as a rookie but showed promise.

He completed 57.7 percent of his throws (41-of-71) for 603 yards with five touchdowns and two interceptions across six appearances (two starts). He added 168 rushing yards and one score on the ground.

The expectation was Garoppolo would get traded during the offseason to pave the way for the 22-year-old Minnesota native to become the unquestioned leader of the offense.

So far that hasn't happened. Garoppolo underwent shoulder surgery in March, and there's a limited number of potential suitors remaining, with most NFL teams having solidified their quarterback depth charts for the 2022 campaign.

In April, Niners general manager John Lynch confirmed the team would keep the 30-year-old Eastern Illinois product if the right offer didn't come along despite his $26.95 million cap hit for 2022 and the potential for him to become an unrestricted free agent next offseason.

"Guys like that don't fall out of trees," Lynch told reporters. "He's a good player at a position where they're hard to find. And so, you certainly don't just give guys like that away and we can, I guess foot the bill, if you want to describe it as that. And so, we'll be patient with that one."

Garoppolo tossed 20 touchdowns and 12 interceptions during the 2021 regular season and helped guide the 49ers to an appearance in the NFC Championship Game.

While Garoppolo's a battle-tested veteran who brings stability, Lance could provide a unique game-breaking element to the San Francisco offense if the coaching staff feels he's ready to start.

Rice told Acosta-Ruiz he filmed a commercial with Lance, who won the Jerry Rice Award as the top freshman in FCS college football in 2019, and came away impressed with his skill set.

"It didn't take me long to be on the same page with him, he's got that rocket arm, but he's also got that mobility and that vision where he can extend plays and throw the ball downfield," Rice said. "So I'm sure with repetitions on the field, the players really just building around him, he's going to have a successful year this year."

The ideal situation for the Niners would be Lance taking firm control of the offense throughout training camp and never looking back for the next decade.

If that doesn't happen and Jimmy G remains on the roster, head coach Kyle Shanahan and Co. may face a dilemma as they prepare to take on the Chicago Bears in their season opener on Sept. 11.

After the Cleveland Browns traded Baker Mayfield to the Carolina Panthers Wednesday, many have wondered how that deal impacts Jimmy Garoppolo's 2022 season outlook.

Only two teams had been connected to Mayfield, the Panthers and Seattle Seahawks, though NFL Network's Ian Rapoport disputed reports that the latter club had a strong interest in the former Browns quarterback. According to The News Tribune's Gregg Bell, the Seahawks planned to have a quarterback competition between Geno Smith and Drew Lock all along.

With the quarterback seats filled across the league, the San Francisco 49ers don't have any potential trade suitors for Garoppolo, or do they? Is it time to cut him and most of his $27 million cap hit as the coaching staff prepares Trey Lance to start in the upcoming campaign?

Not so fast.

In the coming days or weeks, the 49ers should reach out to the Browns. If the league suspends Deshaun Watson for several games or perhaps the entire 2022 season, Jacoby Brissett would be in line to start under center.

Watson's disciplinary hearing for alleged sexual assault and misconduct involving 26 cases with women (masseuses) concluded last week. According to Andrew Beaton of the Wall Street Journal, the NFL will push for an indefinite suspension.

With Watson's short-term future unclear, the Browns can bridge the gap between the present and their starting quarterback's return to action. Garoppolo has more big-game experience than Brissett, having started in six playoff games including a Super Bowl two years ago.

Garoppolo is on the mend from shoulder surgery, but he's scheduled to throw this month, per ESPN's Jeremy Fowler. The Browns can bring him in as a viable option to start at some point during the upcoming campaign.

Per NFL Network's Tom Pelissero and Rapoport, the Panthers gave up a conditional 2024 fifth-round pick for Mayfield, and they'll pay him $4.9 million for 2022. Per NFL Network's Mike Garafolo, the Browns will pay Mayfield $10.5 million, and he agreed to trim about $3.5 million from the base salary of his rookie contract.

Though Garoppolo has a 31-14 record as a starter for the 49ers, he shouldn't cost that much more than Mayfield because of his spotty availability and low-volume production.

Garoppolo has fewer career starts than Mayfield (47-59) with more than six starts in just two out of eight campaigns. He hasn't thrown for 4,000 yards or eclipsed 27 passing touchdowns in a single term. Lastly, his QBR has dropped every year since 2019.

San Francisco may not receive much in return for Garoppolo, but something is better than nothing. As for the Browns, they have $48.5 million in cap space, which allows them the financial flexibility to roll the dice on a battled-tested quarterback. From Garoppolo's perspective, he would have a chance to run a viable offense that features a strong offensive line, four-time Pro Bowl wideout Amari Cooper, athletic pass-catching tight end David Njoku and a pair of productive running backs in Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt. A deal could work out for all parties involved.

If the Browns choose to put their faith in Brissett, the 49ers should hold Garoppolo through training camp because injuries could put teams in desperate situations for a quarterback.

With that said, head coach Kyle Shanahan floated the idea that Garoppolo could remain on the roster in 2022. That scenario raises questions about how the team views Lance's progression. Why would the 49ers keep a $27 million backup if they think their young signal-caller is ready to take over the starting job?

At his price tag, Garoppolo seems unlikely to finish the 2022 season with the 49ers in a reserve role. The front office may entertain offers before the trade deadline in a last-minute effort to dump him.

As a midseason trade partner, the New York Jets make sense if Zach Wilson struggles through October. Jets offensive play-caller Mike LaFleur worked with Garoppolo for four years between 2017 and 2020 as the 49ers' passing game coordinator.

Though Gang Green has backup quarterbacks Joe Flacco and Mike White, the front office may look for a new bridge-gap option for 2023 if Wilson doesn't show any progress this year. Flacco and White have contracts that expire next offseason, and the Jets' current regime may only get one more year to right the ship. The team's decision-makers would probably bet on a veteran who's in his prime to save their jobs in that scenario.

As the 49ers play the waiting game, the decision to cut Garoppolo should be a last-resort option.

According to Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio, general manager John Lynch had an offer on the table for Garoppolo.

"As we hear it, 49ers G.M. John Lynch is telling interested teams that he has an offer in hand of two second-round picks for Garoppolo, a player the team acquired in 2017 for one second-round pick. (At least one interested team reacted to the news, we’re told, by concluding that, if the 49ers have two [second]-round picks for Garoppolo, they should take it.)."

Based on what we know about the compensation for Mayfield, Lynch either made a huge mistake to pass on two second-round picks, or he embellished the reported package for Garoppolo.

Of course, rosters have changed over the past four months, but Lynch isn't going to see Garoppolo's trade value increase without injuries across the league. At this point, he'll be fortunate to get a middle-round 2023 pick in exchange for an injury-prone quarterback who's coming off surgery on his throwing arm.

In order to put full confidence behind Lance and show the team a clear direction at quarterback, the 49ers should part ways with Garoppolo before Week 1. If 31 other general managers feel comfortable with their players at the position, San Francisco can cut Garoppolo and save $25.5 million.

As a free agent, Garoppolo fits with three teams.

The New York Giants could sign Garoppolo for a bridge-gap position if they want to turn the page on Daniel Jones, who's in a contract term. Big Blue can try to re-sign the ninth-year veteran next offseason and draft a quarterback to groom behind him in 2023.

San Francisco probably wouldn't trade Garoppolo to a team within the division, but Seattle may be interested in him if Smith and Lock fail to establish themselves as starters. Like the Giants, the Seahawks don't have a long-term quarterback plan. Garoppolo can be a Band-Aid for them between the 2022 and 2023 campaigns.

Perhaps Garoppolo goes back to the New England Patriots where his career started in 2014. They have Mac Jones, but the second-year quarterback still has more to prove to secure his long-term future with the franchise.

Furthermore, according to ESPN's Seth Wickersham, Patriots head coach Bill Belichick didn't want to trade Garoppolo to the 49ers in 2017.

"The meeting ended with a clear mandate to Belichick: trade Garoppolo because he would not be in the team's long-term plans, and then, once again, find the best quarterback in the draft and develop him. Belichick was furious and demoralized, according to friends. But in the end, he did what he asks of his players and coaches: He did his job."

Belichick would probably welcome Garoppolo with open arms as a backup plan in case Jones isn't the quarterback of the Patriots' future. On a lesser deal, he's an upgrade over Brian Hoyer and rookie fourth-rounder Bailey Zappe in the primary reserve spot.

With a quiet buyer's market for quarterbacks, the 49ers have no choice but to exercise patience with potential trade partners, but Garoppolo shouldn't fret if the team releases him. He could have a chance to pick the best landing spot for a starting opportunity in 2023.

Team salary cap and player contracts are provided by Over the Cap.

Maurice Moton covers the NFL for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter @MoeMoton.