49ers’ Jimmy Garoppolo ‘needs to be on the next flight’ to Steelers?
As of the third day of August, the only real competition among Pittsburgh Steelers quarterbacks seems to be between career backup Mason Rudolph and first-round draft selection Kenny Pickett for the No. 2 role behind free-agent acquisition Mitchell Trubisky.
While Trubisky is locked in as the club’s QB1 until further notice, Pickett was routinely third on the depth chart throughout the spring and summer until he recently received second-team reps. It’s still unclear how many snaps each signal-caller will get during Pittsburgh’s preseason opener against the Seattle Seahawks on Aug. 13, but every indication is that the team’s Week 1 starter is already on the roster.
At least one individual thinks that shouldn’t be the case.
San Francisco 49ers veteran Jimmy Garoppolo has been replaced by 2021 rookie Trey Lance as that club’s starter. The status of Garoppolo’s shoulder coming off March surgery had been questioned up through this week, but 49ers general manager John Lynch has insisted the 30-year-old is throwing with “no restrictions.” Following that update, Deadspin’s Stephen Knox explained why he believes Garoppolo “needs to be on the next flight to Pittsburgh.”
“Good ball control, strong pass defense, better injury luck, and maybe the Steelers will make a deep playoff run,” Knox wrote of adding Garoppolo to a Pittsburgh team that made the playoffs in January with an over-the-hill Ben Roethlisberger leading the offense. “However, if they want to entertain the possibility of matching up in the Divisional Round (or) conference championship game against the Buffalo Bills or Kansas City Chiefs, it can’t happen with the quarterbacks they currently have on their roster.”
Money continues to be the major issue as it pertains to any team trading for Garoppolo before the end of the month. On Monday, Nick Wagoner of ESPN noted Jimmy G is “scheduled to count $26.9 million against the 2022 salary cap with a $24.2 million base salary” per the terms of his contract. That money is not guaranteed, however, which is why most assume other clubs are waiting for the Niners to release Garoppolo before final cuts must be made on Aug. 30.
“The Steelers do have over $14 million in team cap space, per Over The Cap,” Knox added. “Many more difficult salary situations have been worked around. Being the Western Pennsylvania version of the 49ers could work for the Steelers.”
Garoppolo was linked with the Steelers in a July rumor, but head coach Mike Tomlin hasn’t sounded even slightly interested in adding another veteran to his quarterback room heading into preseason games. That could change, though, if Trubisky falls on his face against Seattle two Saturdays down the road and if Garoppolo would agree to an extension that would spread his cap hits across multiple campaigns.
