After the conclusion of the 49ers’ season, general manager John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan addressed media to discuss a number of topics.
One point that stood out was the tone of Kyle Shanahan’s answer regarding the prospect of bringing Jimmy Garoppolo back into the fold.
No one expected Garoppolo to return. It didn’t make sense financially with him being a free agent, especially after the ascendance of Brock Purdy.
But Shanahan’s answer was, let’s say, terse.
He was asked: “Is there a scenario in which you guys can see QB Jimmy Garoppolo being back and if so, what would that look like?”
Shanahan’s response?
“No, I don’t see any scenario of that.”
Alrighty then. The writing had long been on the wall, but it was blunt nonetheless. It begged the question, did something sour further between those two?
According to The Athletic’s Tim Kawakami in his latest mailbag, indications are that, yes, the relationship deteriorated leading up to the NFC championship:
Well, I checked around the team and discovered: Yes, the relationship between Garoppolo and Shanahan/Lynch seems to have gone a bit south in the days or weeks leading up to the NFC Championship Game loss in Philadelphia. I don’t know if there was a specific blow-up or conversation that led to this. I don’t know what the main issue was.
Kawakami writes that if he was to make a guess, “the mood was always a little questionable this season between Garoppolo and Shanahan.”
There has always been a distance between the two and Garoppolo’s persistent injuries only aggravated a relationship that was “never especially close,” despite them achieving joint success.
Aside from the obvious element of investing in Trey Lance and being impressed by Purdy, Kawakami mentions that the 49ers kept Garoppolo on the active roster over Hassan Ridgeway (pectoral strain, was roughly on pace to return in the NFC championship). Ridgeway was a major factor in helping a limited interior of the defensive line this season and if Garoppolo was placed on injured reserve instead of Ridgeway, it’s at least a move that could have had an impact.
Kawakami continued:
They could’ve used that roster spot for somebody else, maybe defensive tackle Hassan Ridgeway. But Shanahan and Lynch saved it for Garoppolo, who tried and couldn’t get healthy enough to be Purdy’s backup in the conference title game. And then Purdy got hurt.
Again, I don’t know that any of this directly led to Shanahan’s abrupt answer about Garoppolo and, before that, Garoppolo bypassing the media during locker-room clean-out day last week, but I imagine this was part of the atmosphere around the two.
It was always clear that Garoppolo wasn’t coming back, especially once Purdy broke out this season. But what’s evident now is that there were some issues percolating below the surface.
