Jimmy Garoppolo is getting some things off his chest.
The former 49ers quarterback, who signed with the Raiders this offseason, recently detailed his uncomfortable experience after San Francisco traded multiple draft picks to select Trey Lance with the No. 3 pick in the 2021 NFL Draft.
“Yeah, the year before was real awkward,” Garoppolo told the San Francisco Chronicle. “That was tougher than this past year, honestly. You’re always gonna be dealt a hard hand at some point, and you’ve just got to make the best of it, and that’s what I’ve tried to do. That was a hard time. But I had some good people around me to lean on.
“The brothers in the locker room, those guys played a big role. I don’t think the fans always saw all that stuff, but those guys really picked me up when I was down sometimes. That’s why I love those guys in the locker room. All the crap that we went through for four to five years, whatever it was, we all stayed together in the locker room, and I thought that’s what made us such a tight group.”
Garoppolo spent six seasons with the 49ers, throwing for 13,599 yards and 82 touchdowns while serving as the team’s main starter. He led the 49ers to the NFC’s No. 1 seed during the 2019 season and Super Bowl LIV, but San Francisco lost to the Kansas City Chiefs.
If 2021 kicked off the awkward quarterback situation in San Francisco, things only spiraled from there.
Lance entered the 2022 season as the 49ers’ starting quarterback but suffered a season-ending ankle injury in Week 2.
Garoppolo then slid back into the role of QB1 but broke his foot late in December.
Garoppolo and Lance’s absence paved the way for rookie sensation Brock Purdy, who led the team to the NFC Championship and was listed as the starter on the team’s first “unofficial” depth chart of the preseason.
When 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan was asked after the conference championship if he could see a scenario in which Garoppolo would return, his answer was straightforward and harsh.
“No,” Shanahan said. “I don’t see any scenario of that.”