Kyle Shanahan: Garoppolo 'disappointed' by 49ers' trade to move up in draft

One of the themes here was San Francisco’s brass doing everything possible to boost Garoppolo’s confidence level during the press conference. They could have also been sending signals to the New England Patriots that a potential trade is not going to come cheap.

The question here is whether San Francisco firmly believes that an unnamed rookie quarterback could lead this Super Bowl roster to contention. Shanahan talked on that, indicating that it’s going to be hard for an inexperienced signal caller to learn his offense and be ready Week 1.

“You have a veteran starter, who you like and are comfortable with, that’s usually the direction you want to go and not throw someone else into fire until they’re fully ready,” Shanahan said. That’s the situation we’re at.”

What does this all mean? At least from a public standpoint, the 49ers are making it clear they plan on Garoppolo being the starter next season. It makes sense. He did lead this squad to the Super Bowl 14 months ago. That can’t be lost on the whole thing.

However, there’s other things to take into account here. Primarily, Garoppolo’s injury issues and the fact that he’s set to count $26.4 million against the cap in 2021. If the 49ers are indeed hoping to contend next season, that figure is pretty problematic. Shanahan and Co. touched on this while bringing up the economic downturn created by the COVID-19 pandemic. Whether this plays a role in the Garoppolo situation moving forward remains to be seen.

Who are the 49ers targeting with the third pick in the 2021 NFL Draft?

Obviously, San Francisco moved up from the 12th spot to select a quarterback. Shanahan and Lynch confirmed that during their presser on Monday. They also made it clear that the expectation is Trevor Lawrence will go No. 1 overall to the Jacksonville Jaguars while the New York Jets are more than likely to take Zach Wilson with the second pick.

This leaves Justin Fields (Ohio State), Trey Lance (North Dakota State) and Mac Jones (Alabama) as the three choices with the 49ers’ newly-acquired pick.

Shanahan talked about the pre-draft process and how the 49ers would be spending their time. Contrary to previous reports, they will have a chance to see Justin Fields throw in-person. Shanahan and Lynch are attending Jones’ second pro day with Alabama this week. They are also going to go see Fields at some point ahead of the 2021 NFL Draft.

As for Lance, there is some concern within the 49ers’ organization that he was only able to play one game at North Dakota State this past season. The small sample size will seemingly play a role in San Francisco’s decision-making process.