If you're Jimmy Garoppolo and not a single NFL team was interested enough to trade for you as their starting quarterback, that can't be a great sign.
Hall of Famer and 49ers legend Steve Young joined KNBR 680's "Tolbert & Copes" on Friday to discuss Garoppolo taking a pay cut to remain on San Francisco's roster as the backup quarterback to first-year starter Trey Lance and the alarming message the rest of the league has sent him.
"I think Jimmy must be shocked because when he (has a 33-14 record as a starter) and we know that Kyle [Shanahan], for whatever reason, has chosen away from Jimmy, he's not interested in Jimmy as a starter," Young said. "So he's made that clear for three years now. 'I'm not interested in Jimmy as a starter, that's not what I want.' So he's chosen against that, we know that and we're going to trade him and then the injury delayed everything.
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"But in this era of quarterback-centric (play), anyone who can be 33-14 regardless of how you look at it, that's somebody you want to be on the field, there's somewhere in this 32-team league that would want Jimmy Garoppolo to start for them. To find out, despite the injury, the late start and the music stopped a little early, I understand that, but by the time he got healthy, what spots were open? In the end, that nobody was interested in Jimmy Garoppolo as a starter, for Jimmy, is a referendum that should be alarming to him."
Young believes that Shanahan has made clear he prefers Garoppolo in a backup role and that Garoppolo should take it upon himself to use this season as a soul-searching mission to figure out why teams no longer are interested in him as a starter.
"And Kyle has said very very clearly 'I love Jimmy Garoppolo as a backup.' So that's why Kyle is so excited, because he has Jimmy exactly where he wants him," Young added. "As a backup. And so for me, if I'm Jimmy, whatever the narrative, the whispers around the league that is preventing him at a 33-14 record at not being able to be a starter in the league, something's amiss that he needs to fix. He needs to figure it out. (I'd do a) bain study, take a $100,000 and go get a bain test study and find out what is going on. And then whatever that feedback is, go fix it."
"Use this time to go re-challenge the narrative that's out there, because if I'm Jimmy, I'm alarmed that nobody was interested in me as a starter. And so go fix that, go make that difference, because the truth is, the 49ers have already said they don't want you as a starter. If you don't change the music, you're going to have the same end result."
San Francisco 49ers
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Young acknowledged that Garoppolo's decision to get shoulder surgery this offseason certainly played a role in his diminishing trade market, but ultimately believes that it falls on Garoppolo himself to fix whatever it is that has teams hesitant to trade for him.
Meanwhile, both Garoppolo and the 49ers appear to be happy with the mutually-beneficial opportunity he has with San Francisco this season. And who knows, by mid-season, a team might finally come calling with an opportunity both Garoppolo and the team cannot refuse.