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Biggest NFL story to hit the wire yesterday was the Lions gearing up to trade quarterback Matthew stafford. Immediately after the news broke, pundits started compiling lists of Stafford’s most likely suitors, with the 49ers topping most of those lists.
Indeed, Eric Branch of the San Francisco Chronicle expects the Niners to inquire about Stafford, and NBC Sports Bay Area’s Matt Maiocco says the team is likely to quickly make a decision on whether to participate in. The call for tenders (Twitter link). The consensus seems to be that it will take a first-round pick plus additional compensation to acquire Stafford, and it’s unclear whether GM John lynch is ready to part with this type of capital.
Of course, the 49ers have Jimmy garoppolo under contract during the 2022 season, but has missed 23 games in the past three years, while Stafford have started every game in nine of the past 10 seasons. In addition, head coach Kyle shanahanThe offense, filled with game passes, bootlegs and deep shots, seems like a perfect fit for the Lions franchise icon.
Money wouldn’t be an obstacle either. Stafford will only count $ 20 million against the cap in 2021 – a rather modest sum for a quality flagman – while Garoppolo is expected to strike a blow of $ 26.9 million. San Francisco would only cash in on $ 2.8million in dead money trading or releasing Garoppolo, so the club would actually improve their cap situation and (likely) their quarterback game by acquiring Stafford.
Garoppolo has a no-trade clause written into his contract, but since he’s unlikely to get any meaningful return in a deal at this point, dealing with it wouldn’t be a prerequisite for a Stafford deal. The Athletic’s Matt Barrows wonders how much of an improvement Stafford would be and if that improvement will be enough to justify abandoning the 49ers’ No. 12 overall selection, and it’s a decision Lynch & Co. will have to make. the next weeks.
For now, Lynch doesn’t plan to use his first draft pick on a college passer, as Alex Didion of NBC Sports Bay Area writes. So if the team doesn’t acquire Stafford or another veteran, it looks like Garoppolo will be the 49ers starter for 2021, as Shanahan suggested last month.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
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