While the 49ers Faithful was out of the loop on Jimmy Garoppolo’s whereabouts this past offseason, it seems that wasn’t any different for the organization either.
And it also isn't anything new.
NFL columnist Mike Silver of the San Francisco Chronicle reported Thursday that Garoppolo was largely unreachable for prolonged stretches of the offseason every year of his career in San Francisco except one -- last summer (2021).
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George Kittle, in a much lighter tone, warned us of the QB’s poor texting skills during Super Bowl Week two years ago, but Silver's report suggests Kittle wasn’t the only one being ignored.
After the 49ers signed Garoppolo to a five-year contract worth $137.5 million in 2018 -- the largest contract in NFL history on an annual basis at the time -- general manager John Lynch and head coach Kyle Shanahan were ready to get to work with Garoppolo and prepare for the next season.
But that’s when, as Silver put it, “The Jimmy Garoppolo vanishing act” began, and became a staple of just about every offseason that followed.
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“Once he left that press conference, nobody heard from him for weeks and weeks,” recalled one member of that coaching staff, according to Silver. “He didn’t return calls, he didn’t return texts — he basically just vanished. And we were looking at each other going, ‘What just happened?’”
Garoppolo "ghosting" the 49ers seems understandable this offseason given the team's clear desire to move on to Trey Lance, but it appears his lack of reachability in years past surprised members of the staff.
The 49ers, with Lance entrenched as QB1 and Garoppolo unofficially still part of the team as he looks for a new home, will kick off their preseason slate against the Green Bay Packers on Friday night. Kickoff is set for 5:30 p.m. at Levi's Stadium.