Making the case why Jimmy G should be Seahawks QB of the future
Why the Seahawks might be a good fit
So what does San Francisco have to figure out, and why it could be a huge benefit to the Seahawks.
Well for starters, the 49ers are in one of the worst cap situations in the league. They have very little wiggle room to get better, while the eventual contract extensions for Nick Bosa and Deebo Samuel loom larger each and every day. San Francisco committed their entire future in Trey Lance, their leadership is going to go down swinging with the young QB, for better or worse. There’s just no room financially for Jimmy Garoppolo and his $24 million dollar salary.
Knowing the 49ers are against the cap and wanting to move on from a good, but not great QB has cost San Francisco all the leverage in trade talks. From the Super Bowl to now, they and the Carolina Panthers have been left without a real date to the QB prom. With rumors of Baker Mayfield to Carolina growing, the 49ers may be forced to either make a trade with their division rivals or cut the QB.
This is where Seattle can take advantage. Seattle doesn’t have the space to trade for Jimmy Garoppolo. Seattle shouldn’t want or even consider paying him that salary, instead of waiting for Jimmy to be cut. This is going to happen, and Seattle needs to be more focused on recruiting Garoppolo than trading for him.
Seattle can give a tremendous pitch as well. They can offer Garoppolo around $10 million to sign, giving him over $30 million in salary for the season. They can offer Garoppolo a place where he will be the starting quarterback when he’s healthy. If the shoulder injury needs a longer rehab and Jimmy needs to miss the first six games of the season, that’s completely fine.
Seattle can simply let Geno and Lock run the show for the first few games. Barring an incredible start by one of those two, a healthy and rested Jimmy G will be ready to take the reins with plenty of seasons left to play.
Two other reasons, and the two that will play the biggest role, in Garoppolo signing with Seattle are the talent and opportunity. There’s no team that Jimmy could sign with that will have a better collection of talent, while trying to emulate the McVay/Shanahan scheme. That zone running, play action, quick simple crossing routes offense is a perfect fit for Jimmy Garoppolo.
In his five seasons, Jimmy averaged nearly a 68 percent completion percentage, including 68.3 percent this season. For comparison, Russell Wilson had a 64.8 percent completion rating in 2021 and 65 percent for his career.
That 3 percent bump from Jimmy could change the offense dramatically, while successfully feeding his best offensive weapons. It’s not hard to see Jimmy finding great success throwing 20-25 times a game to Metcalf, Lockett and Fant.
Speaking of Shanahan, what better place for Jimmy to prove people wrong than to get to play in the same division as the team that dumped him for going 31-14 while completing nearly 68 percent of his passes over his five seasons with San Francisco.