Juszczyk To Have MRI
- 49ers fullback Kyle Juszczyk will undergo an MRI on Monday after suffering a concussion in today’s defeat at the hands of the Cardinals, tweets Eric Branch of the San Francisco Chronicle. The news comes right after it was learned that safety Jaquiski Tartt would be placed on the IR with a fractured arm that he suffered in today’s game as well. Juszczyk, 26, hasn’t been as big of a factor in the 49ers offense as people may have thought after signing by far the richest contract of any fullback this past offseason. The former Raven has totaled just 23 rushing yards and 8 catches for 80 yards this year.
49ers’ Jaquiski Tartt Out For The Season
The 49ers are still winless on the year after dropping their ninth game in the row to the Cardinals on Sunday afternoon. However, that’s not the only bad news that came from today’s defeat. San Francisco has learned that safety Jaquiski Tartt would be out for the year after suffering a fractured arm in the contest, reports Cam Inman of the Mercury News (Twitter link). The team will be forced to place the 25 year-old defensive back onto the injured reserve because of the injury.
This is the second season ending injury the 49ers have seen to their safety corps in as many weeks, with Jimmie Ward hitting the IR with the same ailment after last week’s game versus the Eagles.
Tartt, 25, played opposite of Ward for most of the season, which eventually forced Eric Reid to make a position switch to linebacker. The former 2015 third round pick had accumulated 52 tackles and one interception on the season, but was rated very highly by Pro Football Focus, registering as the site’s 11th best safety in the league through eight weeks.
The news acts as just another blow to what has been a trying season for the 49ers, but the team will have no choice but to soldier on without their their young defensive back. Head coach Kyle Shanahan has just one backup safety on the roster in Dexter McCoil, so it seems likely that the team will look to add some depth to the position before the team plays the Giants next Sunday.
NFL Workout Updates: 11/5/17
Today’s workout updates, with all links going to veteran NFL reporter Howard Balzer’s Twitter account unless otherwise noted:
Green Bay Packers
- LS’s Nolan Frese, Colin Holba, Zach Triner; CB Raysean Pringle (via Rob Demovsky of ESPN.com) (Twitter link)
Jacksonville Jaguars
- P Brock Miller (Twitter link)
San Francisco 49ers
- T’s Will Beatty, Cameron Jefferson, Andrew Lauderdale, Max Rich; Ss K.J. Dillon, Deron Washington (Twitter links)
More Jimmy Garoppolo Fallout
Since the 49ers traded a 2018 second-round pick to the Patriots in exchange for quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, it has been widely assumed that San Francisco views Garoppolo as its quarterback of the future. However, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com suggests that isn’t necessarily the case.
As Schefter observes, the 49ers could end up with one of the top two picks in the 2018 draft, and they could choose to draft their future QB with that pick, or they could use some of their vast amount of cap space to sign a free agent signal-caller (read: Kirk Cousins). If they decide against moving forward with Garoppolo, who will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the year, they could put the franchise tag on him and trade him. And, according to Schefter’s sources, San Francisco could get more than the second-round pick it dealt to New England if it were to go that route.
Even if what Schefter says is technically true, it is still difficult to envision Garoppolo somewhere other than San Francisco in 2018, and other writers do not mention the possibility that Tom Brady‘s former backup could be on the move again this offseason. For instance, Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports reports that contract talks between Garoppolo and the 49ers will begin soon, and Ian Rapoport of NFL.com says the 49ers’ acquisition of Garoppolo completely forecloses the chance they pursue Cousins. Rapoport adds that, while San Francisco brass does like Cousins, it chose to take the “sure thing” in Garoppolo now, rather than wait for the possibility Cousins that could be available.
Rapoport writes that Garoppolo and his former club could not come close in their negotiations on a new contract. Those talks were broached last spring, but Garoppolo would not accept a “backup-plus” contract then, and it does not sound as if he wavered from that stance in the subsequent months. As such, New England felt it had no other choice but to trade him and get a higher return that a 2019 compensatory selection, which is what it would have likely received if Garoppolo had simply signed elsewhere as an unrestricted free agent next offseason.
Rapoport also writes that the Patriots chose to keep Garoppolo for the first half of the season rather than trade him for an even larger return before the season began because they wanted insurance in case Brady should suffer a decline in play. Ben Volin of the Boston Globe, though, isn’t buying it. Volin says the notion that Brady’s play could have sharply fallen off over the first eight games of this season is nonsense, and “if the Patriots wanted to keep Garoppolo as insurance in case Brady got hurt, that should especially apply over the next eight games and playoffs. But it didn’t.”
Volin believes New England head coach Bill Belichick had every intention of keeping Garoppolo into 2018 and fully expected he would. However, it would have cost the Patriots about $23MM to keep Garoppolo via the franchise tag, and it would have been a clear sign to Brady that 2018 was his final year (and, as Rapoport says, the team will not tell Brady when to move on). Volin writes that trading Garoppolo was simply a case of business trumping football, though he is in agreement with other reports that New England did everything it could to steer Garoppolo towards a franchise that has a bright future as opposed to a team like the Browns, who have coveted Garoppolo for some time.
Minor NFL Transactions: 11/5/17
Today’s minor moves:
San Francisco 49ers
- Activated from IR: DL Ronald Blair
- Released: OL Bryce Harris
- Promoted to active roster: OL Darrell Williams, Jr.
GMs Discuss Garoppolo Trade
With the trade deadline behind us, NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero provided some insight into the completed deals. Notably, the writer discussed the 49ers–Patriots trade involving quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo. While he initially opined that New England should have gotten a bigger return for the signal-caller, he started to see the logic after talking to league executives.
Of course, these executives also touted the 49ers for prying the young quarterback away from New England.
Opinions on the Garoppolo Deal from NFL Execs
Even with the trade deadline being one of the most active in years, whenever a quarterback gets traded, that deal takes center stage. After years of will they or won’t they, the Patriots finally gave in and dealt backup Jimmy Garoppolo to San Francisco for a 2018 second round pick a few months before the signal caller was about to hit free agency. Now given some time to digest the move, NFL coaches and execs are starting to express their thoughts. Albert Breer of the MMQB, has relayed some of those opinions from anonymous personnel throughout the league in his column yesterday. The overall sentiment from the coaches and front office members from the article loved the deal for the 49ers given Garoppolo’s talent and the general lack of starting caliber QB’s throughout the league. But there was also a general understanding about the Patriots rationale for making the move given how unlikely it was they were going to use the franchise tag on their backup QB. Obviously it’s far too early to declare winners and losers, but the opinions from actual NFL coaches and front office people are definitely worth the read.
49ers Officially Announce Garoppolo As Their Backup QB
The Jimmy Garoppolo era has started in San Francisco, but he won’t be named the starter right away. Instead, head coach Kyle Shanahan announced that the former Tom Brady backup will shift to bench duties behind rookie third round pick, C.J. Beathard, according to Eric Branch of the San Francisco Gate.
While the news may be a little bit of a downer for 49ers fans trying to get a look at their new signal caller, the move actually is a sign that Garoppolo is learning the playbook rather quickly.
The first-year head coach explained that the youngster’s ability to quickly grasp the offense influenced his decision to make him the primary backup. If Garoppolo had not picked up the offense, Nick Mullens would have been elevated from the practice squad.
“He’s worked real hard at it and I think he’s gotten more comfortable each day,” Shanaahn said. “He’s definitely not there yet, but if that situation presents itself we’ll have a plan to go with him so he (Garoppolo) can function.”
While this is encouraging news about the future prospects of the former Patriots backup getting playing time sooner rather than later, the Niners still won’t guarantee that Garoppolo will actually see the field this season.
Regardless, the team invested a high draft pick in the quarterback with the hope that the recently turned 26 year-old can become the face of their franchise for many years to come.
The former 2014 second round pick was one of the more intriguing options on the QB market over the past few seasons, despite him only appearing in limited action since being drafted over three years ago. Garoppolo has accumulated a 106.2 quarterback rating when on the field, throwing for 5 touchdowns and no interceptions, while also completing a more than solid 67 percent of his passes.
Latest On Colin Kaepernick
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, Patriots owner Robert Kraft, and Texans owner Bob McNair, amongst others, will be deposed and asked to turn over all cell phone records and emails in relation to the Colin Kaepernick collusion case against the NFL, a league source tells ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter (Facebook link). Seahawks coach Pete Carroll and owner 49ers Jed York are also among those on the deposition list, Charles Robinson of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link) hears.
Other owners, team officials, and league officials may also be deposed, but those are the individuals confirmed for now.
Here’s more on Kaepernick:
- Colin Kaepernick’s attorney believes that the quarterback will sign with an NFL team soon. “I think within the next 10 days somebody will sign him,” Mark Geragos told Adam Carolla earlier this week (transcript via BleacherReport.com). “I think somebody’s gonna sign him. I think the NFL has to come to their senses, and realize every day that goes by just proves the collusion case even more.” Geragos may have confidence, but there’s no reason to expect a Kaepernick signing anytime soon. A potential spot opened up this week when Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson suffered a season-ending ACL tear, but Houston opted to sign Matt McGloin and T.J. Yates. For now, Tom Savage is the starter in Houston and there are no known plans for the team to audition Kaepernick.
- NFL spokesman Joe Lockhart deferred to the NFLPA on the topic of having Kaepernick at the next meeting between players and owners (Twitter link via Ian Rapoport of NFL.com). “We’d welcome his participation, but that’s an issue for the players to determine,” he said.
49ers’ Pierre Garcon Done For Year
Pierre Garcon‘s season is over. 49ers GM John Lynch says the wide receiver will be placed on IR with no chance of a late-season return after suffering a neck injury (Twitter link via John Lund of KNBR 680). 
Garcon, 31, joined the Niners in March on a three-year, $23MM free agent deal. In order to preserve their cap space for the 2018 season, the Niners gave the veteran a jaw-dropping $17MM in effective guarantees. When Garcon returns, he’ll go from one of the league’s highest-paid receivers this season to one of the league’s better values at the position.
In what turned out to be a half-season, Garcon had a team-leading 40 catches and 500 yards receiving. For the first time since his rookie season, he did not find the end zone.
Garcon posted 1,000-yard seasons in 2013 and 2016 and surpassed 700 in both 2014 and ’15. In ’16, Kirk Cousins‘ near-5,000-yard season included 79 Garcon receptions and three scores.