Watson? Darnold? Wentz? Assessment of the rumored 49ers quarterback

General manager John Lynch admitted that the 49ers briefly considered signing Tom Brady last year before ultimately deciding not to, and his team reportedly inquired about Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford, but didn’t had never made a formal offer before being sent to the Los Angeles Rams two weeks ago.

As we noted last month, if a clear upgrade to Garoppolo is available in Watson’s form, expect the 49ers to be aggressive. What makes Darnold and Wentz’s recent chatter special is the fact that neither seem to be clearly better options than Garoppolo at the moment. In both cases, something else is happening.

Here’s a brief assessment of the gossip surrounding the aforementioned 49ers and three-quarters.

Deshaun Watson

While more than half the league would have Called up the Houston Texans about Watson, there are actually only two teams in the NFL that have the ammo to win a bidding war for the disgruntled star.

The New York Jets have the second overall pick that can be used on the second-best quarterback in the draft behind Trevor Lawrence, in addition to two other Seattle Seahawks first-round picks from Jamal Adams’ trade. The Miami Dolphins have the third overall pick (courtesy the Texans, ironically), their own 18th overall first-round pick and a young quarterback at Tua Tagovailoa.

The 49ers have … the 12th pick overall and no other first-round picks or promising young quarterbacks (sorry, Josh Rosen). On the other hand, the Texans might prefer to send Watson to an NFC team, and the Houston Chronicle’s John McClain reported that the team is looking for a package of two first-round picks, two second-round picks and “two young defensive starters”.

The Texans would likely ask 49ers Fred Warner and Nick Bosa in this scenario, but is that a price Shanahan and Lynch want to pay? Could they trade down to say, Dr. Greenlaw and Javon Kinlaw? Will the Texans even trade Watson? Or will they instead challenge him to skip games like Carson Palmer did in 2011 as a member of the Cincinnati Bengals?

Sam darnold

McClain later predicted that if Watson were traded, the Jets would be the most likely landing point, thereby displacing Sam Darnold.

Just before Super Bowl LV, Jason La Canfora, a CBS resident insider in the NFL, told the air: “Sources tell me that 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan [is] High up on Sam Darnold, if it’s a game follow me here, the 49ers would trade Jimmy Garoppolo. “

Darnold appeared in more games than Garoppolo in 2020, but performed very poorly. The third-year USC draft completed 59.6% of its passes for nine touchdowns and 11 interceptions, and was last among the passers-qualified in ESPN’s total QBR measurement.

However, he’s only 23 and has played alongside one of the worst supporting roles in the NFL, with many in the league seeing him as a potential recovery project. Does this group include Kyle Shanahan?

“I watched it a lot, whether it was in college or at last week’s game,” Shanahan said of Darnold ahead of the 49ers’ Week 2 game against the Jets last season. “I’m a huge fan of Sam. He’s a very good player. He’s going to have a very good career in this league. He makes a lot of plays. If you’re not on your thing, if you let him get in. comfortable. out there he will distinguish you as well as any quarterback. He can throw it very well and he sees the pitch extremely well. We have to make sure we don’t let him get in the way. feel good, because when he does, he’ll show everyone why he’s so good. “

Of course, that quote came before the wheels completely fell off in New York City, and it’s impossible to know if Shanahan still feels the same. However, even Shanahan’s take on Darnold has slipped, he has another piece of the QB puzzle to consider: the ramifications of the wage camp.

According to Spotrac, Garoppolo will raise a cap of $ 26.4 million for 49ers in 2021 – one year, the salary cap will drop due to the drop in earnings induced by the pandemic. It is also a year that several key newbies, including Trent Williams, Kyle Juszczyk and Richard Sherman, left their contracts. Oh, and Fred Warner needs an extension.

Darnold, meanwhile, would only have a cap of $ 9.8 million. It wouldn’t be shocking if the 49ers convinced themselves that they could get a Garoppolo-like production from Darnold while using the savings on the rest of the roster.

Carson Wentz

He’s the one who, on his face at least, is a complete scraper.

Wentz was as bad as Darnold was in 2020 (if not worse), and his contract ($ 34.6 million) is even bigger than Garoppolo’s. So why, oh why, would the 49ers have called the Philadelphia Eagles to trade for Wentz, like Benjamin Allbright, Denver radio host and NFL Draft Insider claims?

There has been an unusual amount of smoke regarding Wentz’s trade offers, and the main theory is that most of the leaks come from the Eagles organization in an attempt to entice interested teams to increase their offers. ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported that the two teams most interested in Wentz are the Chicago Bears and Indianapolis Colts.

“I have a feeling the Philadelphia Eagles have been working overtime to generate more interest in Wentz than there really is,” said Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune.

“Two years ago the Eagles came up with the idea that they were going to tag and trade Nick Foles,” recalled Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk. “When they realized no one would trade for a franchise tagged Nick Foles, the Eagles didn’t tag him. In that case, common sense suggests the Eagles will end up taking what they can get for Wentz. “

49ers fans who don’t want any part of Wentz are clear to expire.