49ers reportedly attempted to sign Andy Dalton, trade Jimmy Garoppolo
With the trade market dying down, there’s a good chance Jimmy Garoppolo will be back with the San Francisco 49ers this coming season. In fact, the former Super Bowl quarterback will more than likely start over rookie No. 3 overall pick Trey Lance.
That wasn’t always the case. After missing nearly half of San Francisco’s games over the past three seasons, Garoppolo was just recently on the chopping block. The New England Patriots had interest in his services before selecting Mac Jones in the first round of the 2021 NFL Draft. The Chicago Bears (Justin Fields) and Denver Broncos (Teddy Bridgewater) also seemingly had interest.
From the 49ers’ perspective, head coach Kyle Shanahan reportedly was targeting Andy Dalton in free agency with the intention of trading Garoppolo earlier in the offseason.
“They wanted to sign Andy Dalton in free agency as their veteran quarterback and then trade Garoppolo and draft Lance. I’m told Shanahan was pretty upset when they did not land Dalton,” Tony Pauline of Pro Football Network reported.
Ultimately, Dalton signed with the Bears to be their stopgap starting quarterback for the 2021 season. It’s also interesting that Dalton opted for the Bears over San Francisco. Perhaps, it had to do with finances.
