San Francisco 49ers players, along with fellow citizens of the globe, made it to Sunday alive and let head coach Kyle Shanahan know that they were all right.
If you didn’t realize you were possibly in jeopardy on Sunday — and hopefully, you enjoyed your weekend while being blissfully unaware — 49ers players were compelled to update Shanahan on their safety after the coach attempted to be glib, but went surprisingly dark last week while answering a question about quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo.
“I can’t guarantee that anybody in the world will be alive Sunday,” said Shanahan, “so I can’t guarantee who will be on our roster on Sunday.”
The 49ers were virtually certain to select a quarterback with their No. 3 overall pick in Thursday’s first round of the NFL Draft. General manager John Lynch and Shanahan likely didn’t move ahead of the NFL pack at the cost of three first-round picks to take a receiver or offensive lineman. Not with up to four quarterbacks that could go among the first five selections.
Q: "Will Jimmy be on the roster on Sunday?"
Kyle Shanahan: "I can't guarantee anybody will be alive on Sunday……."https://t.co/FlLvf5nEwc
— , (@dubs4o8) April 26, 2021
So naturally, the press covering the team wanted to know if this meant incumbent signal-caller Garoppolo was soon to be displaced as the starter. That led to Shanahan’s existential response.
San Francisco did take quarterback Trey Lance with their No. 3 pick, setting him up to the team’s quarterback of the future. But with Lance only playing one game for North Dakota State last season and playing FCS competition during his college career, becoming an immediate NFL starter might be asking too much too soon.
So if Lance needs a year on the sidelines to learn and develop, keeping Garoppolo around as a one-year placeholder is smart. But if the rookie is ready to play, Garoppolo and his $25 million salary for 2021 will be cut loose.
The important thing to remember here is that most of us made it to Sunday. (Condolences and sympathies to those who didn’t, and we mean that sincerely.) That included the 49ers roster and several players wanted to let their coach know they were indeed alive, according to NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo.
Take 2 sans typo:
This is tremendous. I’m told a group of #49ers players called Kyle Shanahan today to let him know they survived until Sunday. So good.
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) May 3, 2021
For what it’s worth, Shanahan admitted that he “totally bombed” his response to the question about Garoppolo and the future. He tried to be funny; it didn’t work. It’s happened to all of us, though not necessarily with a microphone in front of us to an audience of media and football fans around the world.
What matters now is that 49ers players — and the rest of us, really — can now joke about it. As of this writing, it’s Monday! Who knows what’s in store for us in the days, weeks, and months ahead? Nothing is assured. But we can have a laugh. That’s probably the best news of all here.
