We told you why the Jimmy Garoppolo injury was catastrophic for the San Francisco 49ers, and you all agreed. ACL injury. Surgery. Six-month recovery. Not replaceable. Bad.
But now that the 49ers have run seven sub-optimal quarterbacks through camp and been unimpressed with them all, the ire factor has risen. Why can’t GM John Lynch find something better than E.J. Manuel, T.J. Yates or some other open-market initialed quarterback? Why is coach Kyle Shanahan so picky? Is he waiting on Y.A. Tittle? Don’t the 49ers know that the already-lost season is now lost?
Well, yes, they do know. They’re not happy about it, but they know.
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And we say “lost,” we mean playoff-contender lost, not Cleveland Browns lost, so regain your brain and calm down.
The idea that there are better available quarterbacks than the seven-headed flotsam they brought to Santa Clara has been proven false repeatedly. The recommendation that they sweet-talk the Philadelphia Eagles out of Nick Foles has been heard and dismissed because, among other things, the Eagles aren’t trading Foles until they know (a) that Carson Wentz is bulletproof, and (b) that there’s a bidding war to get him, and bidding wars don’t happen in the regular season.
The fact is the same fact it has always been – there aren’t very many NFL-quality quarterbacks under present playing conditions, which is why the ones that are that good get paid so disproportionately to their teammates, and why the 32 owners are devising new and increasingly frustrating ways to make them free from physical harm.
How else do you think Garoppolo went from $675,000 to $37 million in five starts? Market scarcity.
The problem here isn’t fan desire. Fans gotta fan, and a season that started so promisingly has been trap-doored in three games is a difficult thing to reorder.
No, the six days between every game is to blame here, because fans get the time to think about it and stew on it and make up scenarios about it. The 49ers had (and still have) an intriguing young quarterback, and now they are playing make-do with C.J. Beathard and Nick Mullens.
This is the market. There aren’t any secret quarterbacks in an underground cavern just waiting to explode upon the league. Bill Belichick is not calling tomorrow to offer up Danny Etling.
The only way complaining about the 49ers standing pat for the moment make sense are the following:
# If they refused to kick the tires on Foles, and let’s be honest, Lynch and Shanahan spend more time tire-kicking than family-bonding – just like everyone else.
# No, that’s about it.
And no, we did not mention The Kaepernick. There’s no point going down that razor blade-studded alley again.
So with apologies to anyone offended by the new status quo, that’s the new status quo. You’re just going to be offended, and if the 49ers go out and get another quarterback in the next few weeks, it’s only because things got worse for them.
If that helps, which it probably doesn't.
