Quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo Signs Huge Contract With San Francisco 49ers; Kyle Shanahan Recalls How Trade With Patriots Came to Be
When Kyle Shanahan became the head coach of the San Francisco 49ers back in February 2017, one of the first things he tried to do was trade for Jimmy Grappolo. However, Bill Belichick of the New England Patriots told him that this feat was never possible, so Shanahan moved on from the idea. One day, Belichick came up to Shanahan, and the rest is history.
Last Friday, the 49ers made Grappolo the highest player in the National Football League (NFL) when the quarterback signed the biggest contract in NFL history — something that his former team, the Patriots, would not have been able to pull off this 2018. On the day of the new deal announcement, Shanahan talked about his long-running infatuation with the Patriots' former quarterback and how the Garoppolo trade came to be.
When Belichick trader Garoppolo to the 49ers for a second-round pick in the 2018 NFL Draft, everyone was surprised. This was because, just a year before the trade, Belichick had declared zero interest in dealing Garoppolo, who was Tom Brady's backup at the time.
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Speaking with MMQB's Albert Breer, Shanahan revealed that the Patriots had actually rejected his first Garoppolo trade attempt. He said that during the 2017 NFL Scouting Combine, the 49ers head coach attempted to lure Garoppolo from Belichick, but Belichick quickly said no.
"At that time, the only guys we thought were franchise quarterbacks that were being mentioned were Kirk Cousins and Jimmy. And I knew Kirk wasn't going to be a possibility. And I remember asking Bill personally down at the combine about Jimmy, and very quickly he told me that wasn't a possibility," recalled Shanahan.
In October, just before the Oct. 31 deadline, Belichick suddenly had a change of heart and called Shanahan, asking him if the 49ers would be interested to trade for Garappolo. According to Shanahan, it took only less than 10 minutes for them to say yes to the deal. Apparently, they loved to have Garoppolo onboard so badly they had no problem dropping an NFL record $137.5 million on their new quarterback.
