49ers Rumors: Jimmy Garoppolo Excused from Minicamp amid Trade Rumors, Injury Rehab

The San Francisco 49ers have excused the absence of veteran quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo from the team's minicamp this week, according to Tom Pelissero of NFL.com.

Per that report, "Garoppolo has been rehabbing from shoulder surgery away from the facility as San Francisco explores trade options, and that will continue."

The news doesn't come as a major surprise. The Niners have openly talked about transitioning to Trey Lance as the starter and the possibility of trading Garoppolo this offseason.

"That's why we looked into trading Jimmy, because we obviously believe that Trey can be a starter and we're ready to do that," head coach Kyle Shanahan told reporters in late March.

"We brought Trey here to be that eventually, and I think that will be sooner than later, but when Jimmy gets his surgery and we can't upgrade our team by getting some good picks until people feel good about that [surgery], I'm all right with that," he added.

And general manager John Lynch told reporters in May that the team was "close in some discussions" to dealing Garoppolo, but the veteran quarterback elected to have offseason shoulder surgery, halting those talks.

"Once he starts throwing and stuff people will be more comfortable," Lynch added. "Then obviously, you've got to let things play out for other teams and part of that was the draft. And just like we're doing, everyone goes, 'OK, we just had the draft,' then you go back and re-evaluate the roster and see where you're at and obviously throughout the offseason and into training camp injuries can happen as well."

So a Garoppolo deal is all but inevitable, even if it isn't imminent. But as the summer rolls on and teams have a chance to evaluate their quarterback rooms and decide whether they need an upgrade—and Garoppolo recovers from his surgery—trade talks should ramp up again.

The 30-year-old was solid if unspectacular for the Niners in 2021, throwing for 3,810 yards, 20 touchdowns and 12 interceptions in 15 games while completing 68.3 percent of his passes.

But he played poorly in the postseason, throwing for 535 yards, two touchdowns and three interceptions while completing just 58.1 percent of his passes. The Niners reached the NFC Championship Game but fell to the eventual-champion Los Angeles Rams.

The knock against Jimmy G has always been that he's a solid game-manager but can't take a contender over the top. The Niners appeared to agree with that sentiment ahead of the 2021 season when they traded the No. 12 overall pick, first-round picks in 2022 and 2023 and a 2022 third-round compensatory selection to the Miami Dolphins to move up to No. 3 where they selected Lance.

While the rookie learned behind Garoppolo last season, teams don't make that level of splash to keep a player sidelined for long. Lance was always going to be given every opportunity to win the starting gig, and Garoppolo—a player in his prime who has played in a Super Bowl and an NFC Championship Game for the Niners—was never going to be happy as a backup.