NFL insider Albert Breer believes that the San Fransisco 49ers will trade away Kimmy Garropolo and has given a date for when he thinks it will happen.

Jimmy Garoppolo and his future with the San Francisco 49ers is certainly one of the big topics around the NFL this offseason. 

The drafting of Trey Lance with the 3rd overall pick in the 2021 draft meant that there was in essence a timebomb ticking on his tenure with the 49ers, as they appear to not be completely satisfied with what he has brought to the table.

Despite having a record of 33-16 with the team across the regular and postseason, one of those seasons ending in a place in the Super Bowl, the number of injuries that he’s picked up clearly wasn’t enough for them to trust him, and so they brought in his heir-apparent. 

However, with Lance having started two games last year, it would take something of a leap of faith for them to catapult him right into the starting spot in 2022, but judging by what Breer has said, that appears to be the plan

What has Breer said?

Writing as part of a Q&A for SI.com, Breer claimed that the 49ers would look to trade away Garoppolo, and that a move could come as soon as the end of next month:

“I’d set the over/under at July 1, and there are a couple reasons for it. [sic]“One, the hope is that Jimmy Garoppolo, coming off rotator cuff surgery, will be throwing in late June. If he can prove then that he’s capable, that’d help…“Two, by the time we get there, teams will have wrapped up their offseason programs, which means coaches will have had nine weeks with their players, with three weeks of OTA practices, plus the mandatory minicamp mixed in. An injury in the course of that could, of course, create a quarterback need somewhere. But even absent that, there could be a team or two that decides, after having the spring to look at their quarterbacks, to add a new one.

Will it work?

The problem with Breer’s assessment is that it is based on a lot of factors, some of which are outside of San Francisco’s control. 

And whilst things like injuries could well happen that would force a team to give something up for Garoppolo, if everyone comes through with a clean bill of health, or if coaches think that the hole can be fixed in house rather than externally, then that trade partner might ultimately not come through. 

So it’s a very dangerous game for the 49ers to be holding out for a partner in this fashion and waiting that long, and at the end of the day it might backfire on them, which then begs the question whether or not they were right to pick up Lance in the first place.