At this time last year, the 49ers were preparing to say goodbye to Jimmy Garoppolo as they moved on to Trey Lance as their starting quarterback.
But that departure never happened in 2022, as Garoppolo eventually agreed to an adjusted contract to stick with San Francisco as the club’s backup.
Then Garoppolo played most of the year. Then he suffered a season-ending injury. And now Garoppolo has finally left the 49ers in free agency, signing a three-year deal with the Raiders.
On Tuesday, Niners head coach Kyle Shanahan was asked how he’d sum up Garoppolo’s tenure with the 49ers from 2017-2022.
“It was extremely successful,” Shanahan said at the annual league meeting. “I mean, look at his record. I know he had a hard time staying healthy with us. The one year that he did stay healthy, he took us to the Super Bowl. There were two other years — the next year that he stayed the most healthy, we went to the NFC Championship.
“Jimmy played at an extremely high level for us and allowed us to win a lot of games and is a very good quarterback.”
The 49ers acquired Garoppolo from the Patriots in exchange for a second-round pick midway through the 2017 season. In 57 games with 55 starts, Garoppolo piloted San Francisco to a 38-17 record. He completed 67.6 percent of his passes for 13,599 yards with 82 touchdowns and 42 interceptions.
While Shanahan wishes Garoppolo well, when asked if he’s spoken to the QB, the head coach joked about how difficult the quarterback can be to reach during the offseason.
“That would be impossible,” Shanahan said with a laugh. “You’d have to run into Jimmy to have a conversation with him — for anybody.”