While the rest of the world was completely out of the loop on the status of Jimmy Garoppolo, several players inside the locker room were made well aware of what was going on.
When it was announced that Garoppolo agreed to take a pay cut to remain in the Bay as Trey Lance’s backup, it was like a meteor struck the NFL universe.
But a group of 49ers players didn’t bat an eye.
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That’s because, as general manager John Lynch revealed on “The Rich Eisen Show” on Thursday, the news was communicated to a number of guys before it was made public.
“Kyle [Shanahan] and I, we pulled 15 players from our team -- our leadership committee,” Lynch said. “We told them, ‘Here’s what we’re doing, here’s why we’re doing it.’ We wanted to let the guys know that it was our belief in this team, in those guys in the room. And we know we’ve created a culture and we’ve got the men that can handle a situation like this. So while the rest of the world may think it’s uncomfortable -- that we’re not supporting our lead guy -- we don’t believe in that. We believe in this team and we think it makes us better.
“And most importantly, we’ve talked to Trey. We’ve talked to Jimmy. And they’re comfortable.”
San Francisco 49ers
While many 49ers players have spoken highly of Lance and his progress all offseason, that respect and love for Garoppolo never went away.
In re-signing Garoppolo, many were concerned that it could interfere with Lance’s development within the franchise as he takes a huge leap to QB1.
But despite things flip-flopping a tad, there's apparently no tension in the 49ers' QB room.
After practicing for the first time with the 49ers on Thursday, Garoppolo spoke to the media right after Lance did.
And the message from both QBs was very clear.
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"Me and Trey, honestly, I know a lot of stuff gets made in the media and s--t like that, but we have a good relationship, man," Garoppolo said. "Everyone can say what they want and everything, but we went through it last year. It’s very similar to this situation. So it’s not like we haven’t done it before.”
While it's been a busy offseason for the 49ers to say the least, they can now put it all in the rearview and focus on football as they prepare for their season opener vs. the Chicago Bears on Sept. 11 at Soldier Field.