Future of 49ers rests in luck, preparation and result of the Patriots' past

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When the Jimmy Garoppolo story is finally told, and we clearly don’t know how it ends, we know how it will begin.
 
With palace intrigues.
 
The much-discussed Seth Wickersham piece in ESPN that explains the growing tensions within New England’s Trilateral Commission  guides us through a lot of the internecine resentments between Bob Kraft, Bill Belichick and Tom Brady, and is a classic tale of men who have frankly gotten sick of each other exceeding their once clearly-drawn relationship limits. It’s an age-old story – power, intrigue, moves and countermoves, truths and deceptions, screwings and counterscrewings – you know, influential human beings being influential human beings.
 
And now we know why Garoppolo became a 49er at such a discounted price. He was a sword-and-shield set in New England, and his reward for laying low through all the fragmentation grenades was to be sent by Belichick to a place where both he and Belichick’s friends could be rewarded.
 
Now we don’t yet know how important Garoppolo will be to 49er history; the number of people already out over their skis on him would make for the largest snowball of human wreckage in alpine sports history. He could be the next Joe Montana, the next Steve Young, the next Alex Smith, or even the next Colin Kaepernick (non-political division), and only the events will provide the answer.
 
But he got here only because John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan kept up relationships with the normally aloof Belichick. After all, Belichick could have called anyone on any team, and he could have asked for much more than a lone second-round draft choice.
 
Before you start imagining that I am describing Lynch and Shanahan as merely lucky, well, I am. But luck is good, and luck comes with those who prepare to benefit from it. Luck is a great thing, and I highly recommend it to anyone.
 
But it is good to understand more fully that the future of the 49ers is in significant part the result of the past of the Patriots. Neither Kraft nor Belichick nor Brady are getting any younger, and all dynasties collapse beneath the weight of the baggage they take on.
 
For the moment then, Jimmy Garoppolo’s story is more about the cracks in the New England foundation rather than the cement in Santa Clara. The rest of it remains a matter for tomorrow.

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