Out Of Place But It Should Be Known... Garoppolo Traded....

FWIW here's SI's take on it.  In summary Garopollo simply wanted a shot at starting and despite offers to pay him as a starter that wasn't enough to keep him happy.  I wouldn't call it desperation because they still had an option to tag him and I wouldn't say it was a bad deal because in effect they're gonna get a higher second than they used to draft him.

But, I would say they may have over played their hand a bit this spring IF the talk about what they were asking was true or if they believed they could keep him as backup for as long as Brady chose to play.  Personally I think that was more speculation than fact and that the simply didn't want to trade him preferring to unload Brissett instead which they did.

I have no doubt Pace inquired about a trade for him.  One way or another he needed a vet starter and was willing to pay top dollar for one.  It's a shame he couldn't cut a deal because we'd not only have a viable vet starter now we could still have drafted Trubisky and eventually traded Jimmy G or Trubisky depending on how it all came out in the wash.

We have Trubisky and of that I'm glad but we also spent a ton of money on a guy whose now running the scout team and will an all likelihood bring nothing in return next spring.  Guess it's just one of those "missed by that much" deals.


Jimmy Garoppolo Trade: Why Now, and Why the Niners?

Link: www.si.com/nfl/2017/10/30/jimmy-garoppolo-trade-patriots-49ers?xid=nl_siextra&utm_source=si.com&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=si-extra&utm_content=2017103112PM

In the end, Jimmy Garoppolo wanted to be a starter, and the Patriots—having failed to make him happy—finally relented. Inside the shock trade at the deadline that sends Tom Brady’s backup to San Francisco to become Kyle Shanahan’s main main

By Albert Breer October 30, 2017

Know this—the Patriots tried.

They knew what they had with their sweetheart of a quarterback situation, with the greatest of all time as their starter and a 25-year-old star-in-waiting behind him, and they wanted to keep it going. They were willing to pay to make it happen. They were willing to wait on him to close the deal.

But late on Monday night, the Patriots finally gave up hope, because they couldn’t give Jimmy Garoppolo what he really wanted: playing time.

As I understand it, the Patriots put potential solutions in front of Garoppolo in the spring and summer to try to extend their window to pass him the torch that Tom Brady has carried for the last 17 seasons. It would have cost them a lot, but they were willing to carry two starting quarterback contracts on their books to do it. Garoppolo, however, made it clear he that wants to be a starter, not just a guy paid like one.

So now he’s gone to San Francisco for the Niners’ second-round pick in 2018, which figures to be somewhere in the mid-30s overall.

Is it the best the Patriots could’ve done? No. But, at the least on the surface it looks like New England simply wanted to keep the chance of a Brady/Garoppolo succession alive for as long as it could, and clearly the Patriots didn’t want to go into the territory of having to franchise Garoppolo in March.

Waiting until now, rather than making a deal last spring, did come with a price. We can illustrate that by explaining the environment that existed for a Garoppolo trade in March 2017:

• Quarterback-needy teams were nose-to-nose with one of the worst draft classes in years at the position. Forget how it’s turned out. The belief was that a group headed by Mitch Trubisky, Pat Mahomes and Deshaun Watson lagged well behind the last three QB classes, and the 2018 class would be on another level all together.

• The free-agent class wasn’t much better. The Bucs’ Mike Glennon was clearly the top name, and he got a deal at $15 million per from the Bears, only to last less than a month as the starter in Chicago.

• Garoppolo was due just $895,077 for 2017. Not only would that be workable for cap-needy teams, but it also would create leverage in working a long-term deal, leverage that wouldn’t be there if he was assigned a franchise tag worth around $22 million (at least).

• Garoppolo had recent playing history. He played meaningful snaps in September 2016, starting in place of the suspended Brady and compiling a 119.0 rating before being injured.

Perfect, right? If the Patriots were going to sell high, either March or April was the time to do it. Supply was low. Demand was high. Garoppolo was affordable and ready to go. The return could’ve been great.

I say “could’ve been,” because that will forever remain a hypothetical. More than one team I spoke with that was in the market for a quarterback in the spring was under the impression that the Patriots weren’t moving Garoppolo. Since then, the Patriots have gotten eight games of evidence that Tom Brady will be fine as a 40-something, and Garoppolo has gotten closer to the end of his deal.

So yes, there’s definitely reason to believe the Patriots should have done this six months ago, at the height of the market. But given Brady’s age and the importance of the position, there’s also an argument that it would’ve been best for the Patriots to just hold on to Garoppolo for as long as they could, even if it meant tagging him and giving Brady another raise (to keep him the team’s highest-paid quarterback).

The Patriots waited, and so now Garoppolo’s a Niner, and for San Francisco this one’s a home run.

Niners coach Kyle Shanahan, as the Browns offensive coordinator in 2014, graded Garoppolo, the then-Eastern Illinois quarterback, highly, and now he gets him for the virtually the same price, draft-pickwise, that the Patriots paid for Garoppolo three years ago. At the very least, this is a half-season audition for Garoppolo to be the long-term answer in San Francisco. More likely, he’ll be there for a lot longer than that.

The Niners are armed with the franchise tag for 2018 and more than $100 million in cap space to do a long-term deal with their new QB. If it works out, and Garoppolo is the guy he looked like on September 18, 2016, when he was 18-for-26 for three touchdowns and no picks less than two quarters against Miami before getting hurt, they just stole a franchise quarterback.

If it doesn’t work out, the Niners can just take another crack at the position—having only given up the same sort of draft pick the Jets did for Christian Hackenberg. Remember, the 49ers still have four picks in the first three rounds in April, including their own first-rounder, which figures to land in the top five.

And yup, in the end, it sounds weird to say that this was an easy call for the rookie GM, John Lynch, and a complicated one for the greatest coach of all time, Bill Belichick.

But that’s just where we are in 2017.

Haha, I'm not angry Alex I was just venting a little trying to crap stir people into responding is all.  That's why the little  "impatient" smilie.    And they have responded.  You can move it now that it caught some attention.

I just thought it was worth revisiting is all and not because I feel like we shouldn't have drafted Trubisky regardless.  But with a QB like Jimmy G then Pace's plan would have worked, we'd have two very good QBs, and one we could have eventually trade for mucho draft booty.

Just a woulda, shoulda, coulda thing where again we just can't catch a really good break.

It's what I've always said b/c it's what's always been reported. You cannot pick and chose when to support and bash the media Soul. 

There was never any real news backing the idea that Chicago and NE were ever in real negotations. And since Pace was obviously enamoured w/Trubs I have to reason that its' the case. You can go w/your opinion and and have had hopes that we could get Jimmy G for a 2nd in the offseason(nothing ever supported that). 

As Brasil stated, Bellechick stated they wanted to keep both, but it became apparent that they couldn't do both so they traded him for what they could; ie they weren't trying to trade him. Add to the fact that Cicncy almost got a 2nd and 3rd for AJ Mc, also a last minute deal. So to think that in the offseason you could get Jimmy for a mere 2nd is just blind hope, hell NE should have been able to get multiple picks for Jimmy this past week. 

Ric I'm gonna comment on only what I've highlighted and then go back to not responding to you again.  Your unshakeable belief that you are correct about everything isn't worth the time to try and correct any longer.

If one or the other of us has always been selective about what facts he uses to support his position that someone is you.  You've done this for years and if you don't believe me ask around.  I also have no idea what you're talking about with that comment about media bashing.  I've posted info on the trade from a few sources and shared information and opinions.

That's the difference between us Ric.  I use whatever facts I can find to arrive at an opinion.  You use your own opinions and spout them as if they were facts.  And if you don't believe this either, ask around.

And finally if there was never any interest in JG on the Bears part why was so much written about back then and why are Chicago media guys writing about it now?  Cincy and Cleveland just made a trade for A.J. McCarron that of course failed due to the Browns failure to submit their confirmation of it on time.  Figures huh?  Do you see anyone writing about McCarron, back then or now?  I don't think that ever happened so there little to say we ever had any interest in him.

But Garopollo is another story completely and the sports news was full or stuff about a potential trade, speculation of what NE was asking, and that fact that both Pace and Garopollo attended Eastern Illinois.  How can you not recall that?  Then add in the fact that we not only needed a vet QB in order to fulfill Pace's desire to not have Trubisky starting as a rookie we actually went out and signed Glennon and YOU think we had no interest at all in Garopollo huh?  Yeah right.  LOL

Whose ignoring facts here in order to form an opinion?  Jeezus but you'd make a lousy detective.  I think all of the info provided indicates we did have an interest but NE, not wanting to trade JG at all and hoping to persuade him to stay on as Brady #2 for as long as it took, simply overpriced him to drive teams away.  It's like me asking $1000 for a guitar that's worth $500 because I really don't want to sell it at all.  This is actually what the facts and rumors tend to say.

Column: Jimmy Garoppolo trade raises questions about Bears and Mitch Trubisky

David HaughDavid HaughContact ReporterChicago Tribune

Link: www.chicagotribune.com/sports/football/bears/ct-spt-bears-jimmy-garappolo-ryan-pace-20171101-story.html

While Chicago waits to see if the Bears answered the franchise’s age-old quarterback question by moving up to draft Mitch Trubisky, general manager Ryan Pace’s bold trade has allowed the Texans and 49ers to feel as if they have found the solution at the position.

Pace traded up to nab Trubisky at No. 2 and passed on Deshaun Watson last April, leaving the leading rookie of the year candidate for the Texans to take at No. 12 and compelling early comparisons that are terribly unfair — more on that later.

But after the 49ers acquired Patriots quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo on Monday night with help from a pile of draft picks the Bears helped stack, the 26-year-old rivaled Watson as the One Who Got Away from Halas Hall. At the very least, the 49ers’ shrewd deal creates a web that forever entangles Trubisky, Watson and Garoppolo, who finally gets his chance as an NFL starter.

Garoppolo always represented Plan A to me for the Bears entering the post-Jay Cutler era, an exciting pivot to a bright, young quarterback with Pro Bowl potential and relevant experience. The Eastern Illinois product even had local ties, as the pride of Rolling Meadows, and enough good looks and personality to one day own a football city if he succeeded with the Bears. Alas, the challenge to pry Garoppolo away from the Patriots proved too great for Pace, likely because the price was higher than the second-round draft pick it cost the 49ers. Boston media outlets reported after the 2017 NFL draft that the Patriots wanted as much as a first- and second-round pick for Garoppolo.

Could Pace aggressively still have come up with a package to entice the Patriots, considering the haul the Bears eventually gave up for Trubisky — the third overall pick, a third- and fourth-round choice in 2017 and a 2018 third-rounder? Wouldn’t spending such draft currency on Garoppolo given his experience been easier to understand — and defend — than wasting $18 million guaranteed on free-agent quarterback Mike Glennon, whose failed experiment lasted four games? Would the Bears be better off the next five years with Garoppolo taking snaps instead of Trubisky?

These are fair and natural questions to ask today, especially in light of the 49ers feeling more empowered to deal their own second-round draft pick for Garoppolo because they had another one stashed away, courtesy of the Bears. The 49ers traded the third-round pick they received from the Bears to the Saints for a second-round choice in 2018 and a seventh-round selection. Interestingly, the Saints used what originally was the Bears’ third-round pick, 67th overall, to take explosive Tennessee running back Alvin Kamara, whose role is increasing.

The additional pick from the Bears put 49ers general manager John Lynch in position to take a calculated risk in pursuing Garoppolo. Reports say a contract extension wasn’t part of Monday’s trade so Garoppolo still could hit the open market in the offseason. Even with the tremendous leverage this gives Garoppolo, the 49ers get nine weeks to take a closer look at a guy who fits the profile of NFL franchise quarterback. The opportunity to pair Garoppolo with a head coach, Kyle Shanahan, known for maximizing a quarterback’s talent only underscores why it was a gamble worth taking for a winless team.

Coaching infrastructure can’t be overlooked with projecting greatness for young quarterbacks, which makes all the premature conclusions comparing Trubisky with Watson locally and nationally so maddening. Watson — a quarterback I strongly encouraged the Bears to draft — walked into a situation more conducive to immediate results than Trubisky: a head coach, Bill O’Brien, known as a quarterback whisperer, an offense that includes explosive wide receivers DeAndre Hopkins and Will Fuller and a playoff-caliber defense. In stark contrast, Trubisky entered an offensive huddle Week 5 with no proven wide receivers and executed a game plan devised by a relative novice play-caller who works for a defensive-minded head coach.

Put another way, Watson was handed the keys to a reliable luxury SUV while Trubisky assumed the driver’s seat to the football equivalent of his grandmother’s 1997 Toyota Camry. Who do you think is going to arrive as a success sooner?

Midway through the rookie season for any NFL quarterback, no matter how promising, remains too early to assume the Bears will regret anything or that Watson will outshine Trubisky. As interesting as it is to compare the two, it’s irrelevant under the circumstances. Remember, Robert Griffin III, the 2012 NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year, looked like a star after eight games too. Five years later, Griffin is looking for work.

Not enough has changed since draft night to alter expectations for either guy; Watson still looks like the most NFL-ready quarterback available and Trubisky has done nothing to discourage hopes that he can develop into a Pro Bowl-caliber quarterback the Bears need. That process might take a few years for Trubisky, not four games. Let the hot takes cool.

Ultimately, Pace’s pick will be judged on whether Trubisky plays in a Super Bowl, not a Pro Bowl. That reality should inform every opinion of Trubisky’s career as it relates to Watson and, now, Garoppolo – and influence every big decision Pace makes moving forward.

dhaugh@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @davidhaugh