49ers feel 'very lucky' to still have Jimmy Garoppolo in wake of Trey Lance's injury

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. – Jimmy Garoppolo had shoulder surgery this spring on the most active quarterback day of 2022 in the NFL.

That was March 8, which featured the operation for the San Francisco 49ers quarterback, Aaron Rodgers’ decision to sign an extension in Green Bay and Denver’s trade with Seattle for Russell Wilson.

At the time, it appeared the latter two solidified homes and Garappolo’s surgery only perhaps delayed his eventual relocation.

Instead, six months later it is Garappolo leading the 49ers into Denver for a "Sunday Night Football" battle against Wilson and the Broncos. The route to this point has featured open talk from San Francisco brass of trading Garoppolo, his unique training camp, the eventual realization that the quarterback landscape developed in a way that left no suitors for a late-summer trade, and, ultimately, a season-ending ankle injury to starter Trey Lance last week.

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Instead of draft capital or a supplemental piece for a playoff push, head coach Kyle Shanahan and the 49ers have something much better: An insurance policy they tried to get rid of but that could now pay off in a massive way.

“At first, it seemed unlucky just because of how good of a player Jimmy is and we for sure would have got something very valuable (in a trade) that would have helped our team,” Shanahan told reporters Wednesday. “It seemed unlucky because of the surgery and all the other quarterbacks that became available after that. I felt like the luck wasn’t great. That’s what led him to be able to come here to be our backup, which I felt then like we were just unbelievably fortunate the way it worked out.

“Never thought we’d lose our quarterback for the year in the first quarter of Week 2, so after all that’s happened, now I feel very lucky that the trade didn’t happen a while ago. All of it ended up working out, things happen for a reason and hopefully we’ll make the best of this going forward.”

Speaking with reporters earlier this month in San Francisco, general manager John Lynch said around the NFL Combine this spring, there were “really serious talks” with two or three teams about Garoppolo and he thought a trade was sure to happen, but the shoulder operation changed that course. Garoppolo was excused from the beginning of training camp as the team continued to try to trade him. Eventually, he agreed to a restructured contract to remain with the franchise through the season.

Now, suddenly, he’s back in the starting spot. Nothing new for the 30-year-old veteran, who has started 45 games for the 49ers and won 31 games in that span. He completed 13-of-21 passes for 154 yards and a touchdown in a 27-7 win over Seattle on Sunday and now makes his first start of the season in primetime.

“He’s played in a lot of big games and been very successful,” Broncos head coach Nathaniel Hackett said this week. “Going all the way back to 2017 when I was at Jacksonville, I remember going against him there. ... So he’s a really good football player, gets the ball out quick. … Jimmy now brings that drop-back mentality that he’s always had and we’ve always seen. It’s really good. They match everything up with the play-pass, with the outside zone, the inside zone.”

Denver defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero knows Garroppolo well, having spent the past five seasons on the Los Angeles Rams’ defensive staff. In that span, the Rams and the 49ers faced off 11 times.

“He’s just a very good thrower,” Evero said of Garroppolo. “Throws the ball over the middle, great arm talent, gets it off fast. He’s a good player.”

“Jimmy does a really good job of controlling the offense,” said Denver inside linebacker Jonas Griffith, who spent time with the 49ers after signing as an undrafted free agent in 2020 and eventually being traded to Denver just before the 2021 season. “He just does a really good job of getting the right guys the ball.”