After Jimmy Garoppolo and Trey Lance were injured during the regular season for the San Francisco 49ers, they came very close to signing up Phillip Rivers.
Rivers, as some may recall, just retired recently. The team’s willingness to get in contact with Rivers just shows how far their relationship with Jimmy Garoppolo had fallen.
According to reports by Tim Kawakami of The Athletic, the relationship between Jimmy G and the team was over.
So what was really happening between Jimmy Garoppolo and Kyle Shanahan at the end of last season? It was a lot of buildup, a lot of tension and a lot of unreturned calls and texts.https://t.co/KC52KwTHex
— Tim Kawakami (@timkawakami) August 16, 2023
“Shanahan and Lynch were not playing Garoppolo again. In their minds, he was an ex-49er already,” wrote Kawakami. “I’ve heard that the 49ers believe Garoppolo had tuned them out almost totally during the playoffs. They didn’t want Garoppolo anymore.”
The 49ers eventually found success with Brock Purdy, but despite the team saying they were disappointed that Garoppolo wouldn’t be back for the playoffs, he would never suit up for them again.
Kawakami also said that by the end of the season, both 49ers head coach Kyle Shannahan and Garoppolo were tired of each other, which is understandable. Garopplo was probably tired of the trade rumors and looking over his shoulder, and Shannahan wanted to move on to Lance.
“Eventually, the whole thing finally exhausted both men,” Kawakami wrote. “They were more than tired of each other. They were done with each other.”
In the end, it worked out for both parties.
