Jimmy Garoppolo – Seahawks Rumored To Be Checking On 49ers Quarterback
The Seattle Seahawks have been rumored to be doing their work on 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo ahead of the 2022 season. Making a deal for him would be bad for everyone involved.
Less than one week ago, former Cleveland Brown Baker Mayfield was traded to the Carolina Panthers. This put to bed, at last, the many rumors that the Seahawks were in hot pursuit of Mayfield as an upgrade at quarterback over Drew Lock and Geno Smith. Many Seahawks fans, myself included, saw this as a great relief. Giving Drew Lock and/or Geno Smith a chance to start in 2022 is the best path. Either the Seahawks get good quarterback play for very little money, or they win very few games, giving them a chance to select a top quarterback in the 2023 draft.
Alas, rumors of the Seahawks making a move for a third quarterback won’t be silenced for good until the trade deadline arrives. The next target for Seattle (according to the sports media world)? The golden boy of San Francisco, Mr. Jimmy Garoppolo. I’ve been a closet fan of Garoppolo throughout his time in San Francisco, but I don’t think I would want him piloting the Seahawks. The best route in 2022 for the Seahawks is to ride the year out with Drew Lock and Geno Smith, then draft one of the top passers in the 2023 draft.
There are three topics that break down why Jimmy Garoppolo isn’t the best fit for the Seahawks in 2022.
Money Talks
I believe that Pete Carroll is the type of coach who plays the player performing better in the moment (save for the curious case of Kyle Fuller), but I feel that bringing Garoppolo in would limit his ability to play Lock or Smith, simply because Jimmy would be making too much money. In a potential trade with the 49ers, San Francisco would take on a chunk of the cap hit, but it’s likely the Seahawks would still be paying Garoppolo $10 million more than they’re paying Geno or Drew. In the scenario Jimmy Garoppolo is cut and he could be brought in for $10 million or less in 2022, this would feel different, but I’m not on board now.
The Sky Is Not The Limit
With Jimmy Garoppolo, the limit is a great transition quarterback. After seeing four years of Garoppolo in San Francisco, it’s easy to see that while he is capable of driving an already-great offense to deep playoff runs, he isn’t the type of player who will elevate those around him (see Josh Allen, Patrick Mahomes, Justin Herbert). Pairing a quarterback like one of these three with the deadly running game Pete Carroll loves would make for an explosive offense. In Drew Lock, the Seahawks have a quarterback who is very unproven, but has the physical talents that have a chance (no matter how small) to turn into an offense-changing player.
Locker Room Confusion
One of the reasons I’ve always thought that Jimmy Garoppolo is capable of leading a successful offense, even with a lack of physical talent, is that he is an excellent locker room player. While this is a good thing in nature, I think the main problem with the Trey Lance experiment thus far is that he can’t lead the 49ers, since Jimmy Garoppolo is the head man in the locker room. The Seahawks are very likely to draft a quarterback in 2023, and I don’t want that quarterback to come in to a room which is built around a great leader in Jimmy G.
Jimmy G is the world's best bridge QB, according to @ColinCowherd… "He's willing to be a backup, he'll never screw you at the podium and everybody in the room likes him." pic.twitter.com/w3pAoXG2oT — Herd w/Colin Cowherd (@TheHerd) July 7, 2022
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