Beginning in the 2021 offseason, the 49ers determined Jimmy Garoppolo was not part of their long-term plans despite his recent top salary. General manager John Lynch and coach Kyle Shanahan reviewed multi-year projections indicating an imminent surge in quarterback market costs. With several star players approaching large contracts and concerns about Garoppolo's injury history and limitations, the organization chose to pursue a younger, cheaper quarterback on a rookie deal. That roster-construction strategy aimed to preserve cap flexibility for multiple high-end players and depth, ultimately setting the stage for Brock Purdy to become the franchise's highest-paid player four years later.
"It was time to move on to someone younger and cheaper. "We felt like if we got a quarterback on a rookie deal, we could put together a team that would be really hard to deal with," Lynch said. "When you have that, it's a lot easier to have a lot more stars across the rest of your roster. Not just stars, but high-end depth, which we've had for a long time.""
"The San Francisco 49ers began laying the path to quarterback Brock Purdy becoming the highest-paid player in franchise history roughly four years before it happened. In the 2021 offseason, the Niners decided quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo was not in their long-term plans -- just three years after they made him the league's highest paid player ($27.5 million per year). The 49ers also had multiple star players heading toward position-defining contracts, which, combined with Garoppolo's injury history and limitations made the choice academic, according to Lynch."
Read at ESPN.com
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