The era is finally over.
Jimmy Garoppolo will be taking snaps for a different team next year. The Las Vegas Raiders have reportedly signed Garoppolo to a three-year deal worth $67.5 million and $34 million guaranteed.
Interestingly, the deal is for quite a bit less than Derek Carr got for signing with the New Orleans Saints, despite the players’ comparable resumes. Carr’s deal was four-years for $150 million including $100 million in guarantees. That’s an average annual value of $37.5 million. Garoppolo’s AAV is $22.5 million.
Garoppolo’s tenure in San Francisco will be seen as a mixed bag. The team won a ton of games with him at quarterback and nearly won a Super Bowl, but Garoppolo was also inconsistent and dealt with injuries consistently. While clearly an above-average player, Garoppolo was unreliable enough that San Francisco traded three first-round picks to draft up and take his hopeful successor in Trey Lance in 2021.
Though his play on the field made him a polarizing figure among fans, Garoppolo was an beloved teammate and class act in the locker room. During the awkward 2021 season when Garoppolo continued as the starting QB with Lance waiting in the wings, Jimmy G remained professional and nearly quarterbacked the 49ers to another Super Bowl appearance.
The same was true in 2022, when Garoppolo agreed to re-join the team after they had basically told him he’d be gone in free agency, and had him practice on a separate field by himself during training camp.
In six years with the 49ers, Garoppolo went 38-17 in the regular season and 4-2 in the playoffs. He posted a QB rating of 99.2 during that time.
