One month ago yesterday, reports broke that the San Francisco 49ers had struck a deal with the Miami Dolphins for the third overall pick, sending away the #12 selection in this Thursday’s NFL Draft, along with a 2022 third-round compensatory pick and their first-round picks in 2022 and 2023. Since then the rumors and reports surrounding the tertiary pick have been ever-flowing.
The main rumor, much to the pleasure of Seattle Seahawks fans, has been that former Alabama QB Mac Jones is the 49ers' reasoning for trading four picks to move up. Many thought that we might get some clarity on the decision for the rival 49ers as Head Coach Kyle Shanahan and General Manager John Lynch spoke to the media on Monday, but it was quite the opposite.
Shanahan said that the team is comfortable drafting three quarterbacks with the third overall pick, and could “get there” with two others. One would assume that the group of five that Shanahan discusses would include Mac Jones, Justin Fields, Trey Lance, Zach Wilson, and of course, Trevor Lawrence.
However, we might have also had some clarity on who the players are that Shanahan did not specify in his comments, as the NFL Network’s Ian Rapaport reported on Sunday that the 49ers have narrowed down their choice to either Mac Jones or Trey Lance. This surely means that the three players that San Francisco is “comfortable” with are Trevor Lawrence, Mac Jones, and Trey Lance, and the two who they could “get there” with are Justin Fields and Zach Wilson.
The forgotten man in this discussion is the 49ers' current QB, Jimmy Garoppolo, who has two years left on his contract but would be a mere $2.8 million cap hit if cut this offseason. In response to a question on if he would be on the roster Sunday, Shanahan responded “I can’t guarantee that anybody in the world will be alive Sunday, so I can’t guarantee you who will be on our roster on Sunday.”
Despite Adam Schefter's source saying “Jimmy is here to stay. He’s our guy this year,” Garoppolo’s future does not look great in San Francisco.