The Washington Commanders reportedly were intrigued by the Jimmy Garoppolo sweepstakes early in the offseason before trading for Carson Wentz.
Even after Garoppolo's lackluster performance Sunday night against the Denver Broncos, former 49ers receiver Terrell Owens insists the Commanders made a mistake.
"Y’all would’ve been better off with Jimmy Garoppolo, to be quite honest," Owens said to Josina Anderson and Fred Smoot on "The Crew" podcast (h/t 95.7 The Game). "I don’t understand why you feel like Carson Wentz is the answer. Carson Wentz hasn’t been the answer in either of the last two or three stops that he’s been."
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ESPN's Adam Schefter reported Sunday, citing sources, that the 49ers and Commanders had the parameters of a trade agreement in place to send Garoppolo to Washington before the veteran quarterback underwent shoulder surgery. Shortly after news of Garoppolo's surgery dropped, the Commanders turned their attention to Wentz and sent two third-round picks and a fourth-rounder to the Indianapolis Colts.
Commanders coach Ron Rivera refuted Schefter's report Sunday, calling it "bull crap."
Smoot, who played seven seasons in Washington over two stints from 2001-09, believes the 49ers were behind Schefter's report.
“Coach Rivera cleared that up,” Smoot said. “Rivera kept it 100, saying it was a damn lie. They only want to talk about this now because Garoppolo got to be their quarterback so they gotta make sure their ex-girlfriend feels like she’s wanted. ... They’re trying to say [Washington] wanted Jimmy first instead of Carson.”
San Francisco 49ers
Garoppolo had a Week 3 to forget. He led the 49ers to just 10 points, committed two turnovers and stepped out of bounds in his own end zone for a meme-worthy safety in an ugly 11-10 loss.
The only quarterback who might have had a worse weekend than Garoppolo was Wentz. The North Dakota State product ended up with 211 passing yards in Washington's 24-8 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, but over half of those occurred in the fourth quarter when the game was out of hand.
Washington entered halftime trailing 24-0. Wentz had compiled 24 yards on 3-of-10 passing.
"This is what we get from Carson Wentz," Owens said. "We probably have seen the best of Carson Wentz when he was with the Philadelphia Eagles. That’s just the honesty and the reality of it. Every stop that he’s been, you’ve seen glimpses of what he could be but there’s no consistency. And I think we all can agree with that with his play. No matter how good of a God-given talent he has, it’s not showing up on game day, on Sundays the way it should be."
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The 49ers aren't the envy of the rest of the league after Garoppolo's poor showing in his first start since taking over for the injured Trey Lance.
But Owens' comments might be a good reminder for 49ers Faithful that, well, it could be worse.