Jimmy Garoppolo Stays With San Francisco, Becomes Highest Paid Backup

After months of speculation, San Francisco 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo is not going anywhere and is instead set to become Trey Lance's backup while earning a ton of money.

NFL insider Adam Schefter first broke the news via Twitter, confirming that Garoppolo and the 49ers' front office had come to terms on a restructured contract that includes no-trade and no-franchise tag clauses.

According to Ian Rapoport, Garoppolo is set to make $6.5 million in fully guaranteed money with the possibility of earning as much as $10 million in incentives if he starts.

Rumors had emerged in recent days that Garoppolo was being pursued heavily by the Seattle Seahawks since they do not have a high-quality starting quarterback that head coach Pete Carroll and the offense can rely on.

Even fans started imploring both the Seahawks' upper management and Garoppolo himself to take a chance and join Seattle this season.

However, the 49ers admitted that they were not going to give him up that easily to an NFC West rival.

Staying in San Francisco makes a ton of sense for Garoppolo at this stage in his career though.

There was talk that the Cleveland Browns would be open to the idea of Garoppolo being a member of their team as Deshaun Watson will be serving an 11-game suspension for his off-field troubles.

That would have given him a temporary starting role, a feat that most quarterbacks would want for their careers, with Watson out, but there is no chance that he could surpass Watson for the position after the Clemson product returns.

With Garoppolo being sent to the bench, the 49ers are fully riding Trey Lance to be their main quarterback and his lack of experience could allow the former New England Patriot to take over in some games when needed.

He has also proven to be an important player for them as he has led them to deep playoff runs in two of the past three seasons, falling short in Super Bowl LIV and in last season's NFC Championship game against the Los Angeles Rams.

Garoppolo landed a five-year, $137.5 million deal with the 49ers back in 2018 after being traded by the Patriots for San Francisco's second-round pick which was a questionable move at the time since most observers believe he lacked the experience to lead a team.

While it is surprising that the 49ers invested in keeping Garoppolo this season, it is only a one-year contract and the two-time Super Bowl champion will have all the freedom in the world to leave next offseason while collecting a decent paycheck as well.