Jimmy Garoppolo rumors: 5 best fits in free agency

QB Jimmy Garoppolo, San Francisco 49ers. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)

Jimmy Garoppolo has proven he can help teams win as their starting quarterback. These five teams would be good free agent fits for the veteran.

The NFL’s quarterback carousel should be very active once again as the majority of the league tries to land a passer who can help them reach the promised land. True franchise quarterbacks don’t grow on trees, which makes proven winners like Jimmy Garoppolo very intriguing on the open market.

While Garoppolo isn’t the most physically gifted passer, he knows his limitations and is still very capable of leading a winning team, as evidenced by the fact he nearly took the San Francisco 49ers a Super Bowl LIV victory and brought them to the NFC Championship Game again in 2021. There are a lot of potential options for Garoppolo on the open market but five fits stand out above the rest.

5. Best Free Agent Fits For Jimmy Garoppolo – San Francisco 49ers

It feels like the 49ers have been trying to move on from Garoppolo for the past few years and handed their starting job to Trey Lance in 2022 before a broken leg ended his season in Week 3. Garoppolo, who agreed to a restructured contract just prior to the season to stick around, took over as the starter and promptly had San Francisco in the Super Bowl hunt before a broken foot in Week 13 let Brock Purdy make a strong impression.

The 49ers have stated publicly that they will likely move on but the timeline from Purdy’s elbow surgery has gotten complicated, leaving them with two relatively unproven quarterbacks coming off of injury entering training camp. Adding veteran insurance at the position makes a ton of sense and the smartest move would be to simply retain the guy who has done so well for them in Garoppolo.

In the end, however, it doesn’t look like Garoppolo has any desire to return to an organization that clearly thinks they can do better than him. That would be unfortunate, however, as both Garoppolo and the 49ers could do well by coming back together on another one-year deal.