Jimmy Garoppolo’s time with the San Francisco 49ers is over.
Following the 49ers loss to the Eagles in the NFC Championship Game, Kyle Shanahan made it clear in his season-ending press conference alongside general manager John Lynch that Jimmy G won’t be returning in 2023.
Shanahan’s answer was direct and to the point.
“No,” Shanahan said when asked if he envisioned a scenario where Garoppolo returns. “I don’t see any scenario of that.”
The fact that Shanahan was so blunt made many believe that the relationship between the quarterback and coach wasn’t exactly good. The Athletic’s Tim Kawakami all but confirmed that in a recent article that Garoppolo’s relationship with both Shanahan and Lynch soured leading up tot eh 49ers loss to the Eagles.
“Well, I checked around the team and discovered: Yes, the relationship between Garoppolo and Shanahan/Lynch seems to have gone a bit south in the days or weeks leading up to the NFC Championship Game loss in Philadelphia,” Kawakami writes. “I don’t know if there was a specific blow-up or conversation that led to this.
“I don’t know what the main issue was. We know that Garoppolo won a lot of games in his six seasons with the 49ers and partially bailed them out this season by agreeing to come back after believing he was going to get traded or cut last offseason.”
It remains to be seen what cause the friction but it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. The writing was on the wall for Jimmy G ever since the team selected Trey Lance with the No. 3 overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft.
After five-plus seasons and an eye-popping 38-17 record as a starter, it appears that Garoppolo’s tenure with the 49ers might have ended on a sour note.
