NFL Rumors: Trey Lance delivered clarity on 49ers future

The San Francisco 49ers planned to move on from quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo this offseason and shift to quarterback Trey Lance as their starter in 2022.

Yet, Garoppolo possibly being on the roster come August or September will, at the very least, complicate the situation.

ESPN senior NFL reporter Jeremy Fowler discussed the market for Garoppolo’s services, saying:

"Garoppolo's market appears to be slow right now. Teams I've talked to have legitimate concern about the shoulder surgery and what that might mean for his offseason and the 2022 campaign."

Nevertheless, nothing about this offseason has changed the 21-year-old quarterback's mind. Fowler wrote this regarding Lance and the 2022 season:

"Trey Lance has gotten the full impression behind the scenes that he will start in 2022. So while the expectation is San Francisco will move Garoppolo eventually, it feels like the team is in a holding pattern on that."

Back in February of this year, the 21-year-old was on the Rich Eisen Show and was asked if was going to be the 49ers starter in Week One of the 2022 season. The quarterback asserted without hesitating:

"Yes, that's absolutely my goal, to be as ready as I possibly can for OTAs, training camp, and absolutely Week 1"

During the same interview, he spoke about Garoppolo heading to a better situation:

"If [Garoppolo] does [leave], he deserves to go to a great situation, so I think they're going to make sure they do get that done if Jimmy does leave.”

Trey Lance and Jimmy Garoppolo in the 2021 Season

San Francisco 49ers QB Jimmy Garoppolo.

Lance was the third overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft out of North Dakota State. In his rookie season, he played in six games while starting two of them. He threw for 603 yards with five touchdowns and two interceptions.

On the ground, he rushed for 168 yards and a touchdown. The quarterback suffered a left knee sprain in San Francisco’s loss in Week Five to the Arizona Cardinals, missing one game.

Garoppolo was under center for the remaining 15 games as a starter, throwing for 3,810 yards with 20 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. He led the 49ers to the playoffs as they made it to the NFC Championship game, losing to the Los Angeles Rams by a score of 20 –17.

His cap hit in 2022 is $26,950,000, which is the seventh-largest cap hit amongst quarterbacks, according to the salary cap tracker website Spotrac. What will the 49ers do with the 30-year-old quarterback this offseason? We’ll have to wait and see.