With the Jimmy Garoppolo-49ers hourglass nearly out of sand, what's next? - San Francisco 49ers Blog- ESPN

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — The clock started ticking on March 26, 2021, when the San Francisco 49ers traded with the Miami Dolphins for the No. 3 pick in the NFL draft.

It sped up when the Niners used that pick on quarterback Trey Lance on April 29.

And now, despite quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo and the 49ers best efforts to delay the inevitable, the top half of the hourglass is almost out of sand. Barring a significant change of course, his time with the Niners is almost up.

When that happens, it will end a five-year run full of ups and downs and usher in the start of the Lance era.

But before we get there, it's worth taking a closer look at how we got here, the implications of such significant change at the game's most important position and how it could all play out.

The Niners made it clear they were ready to move on from Garoppolo when they traded three first-round picks and a third-round choice to move up nine spots in the draft for Lance. There were multiple reasons, but at the top of the list was Garoppolo's injury history.

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For a team that rightfully believed it was in a Super Bowl window, the idea of losing another season because of below-average quarterback play was no longer tolerable. Garoppolo missed 13 games with a torn ACL in his left knee in 2018 and 10 more in 2020 because of ankle injuries. In 2021, he missed two games, one with a torn ligament in his right thumb and another with a calf issue.

«We've had Jimmy here for five years and he's got to play in two of those seasons fully,» coach Kyle Shanahan said.