Jimmy Garoppolo says he expects trade from San Francisco 49ers, wants to be sent to winning situation

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — At the end of a 17-plus minute Zoom media session Tuesday, San Francisco 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo stopped, looked into the camera and delivered what was unmistakably a farewell message to Niners fans.

«It's been a hell of a ride,» Garoppolo said to the 49ers fans. «I love you guys. See ya.»

With that, Garoppolo rose from his seat and walked into an uncertain future that almost certainly will end with him playing for another team in 2022. Not long before, general manager John Lynch and coach Kyle Shanahan largely deflected questions about what comes next for Garoppolo.

Shanahan and Lynch spoke at length about the end of the season — which came after Sunday's 20-17 loss to the Los Angeles Rams — being too fresh to have a definitive answer on where they go from here. They promised to communicate with Garoppolo every step of the way and went into detail about how they have the financial wherewithal to keep Garoppolo and rookie Trey Lance next season if that's something they want to explore.

«If we knew exactly what was happening, we would have told Jimmy,» Shanahan said. «But this season just ended and we've got a great, young quarterback who was a rookie and we have a great quarterback here who is a veteran… I've got the ultimate respect for Jimmy and I'm very excited about Trey. That's where we're at right now.

»So, we're in a situation where we've got to make some tough decisions that won't be easy. But I'm happy about that. That means you've got the best scenario going and that's why we've got to put a lot of thought into this. And Jimmy will know everything as we go."

Nobody should have expected Shanahan or Lynch to go into detail about the plan to try to maintain some sense of leverage.