Minor NFL Transactions: 11/1/17
Here are today’s minor moves.
Carolina Panthers
- Signed: WR Brenton Bersin
New York Giants
- Signed: DE Jordan Williams
Philadelphia Eagles
- Signed: QB Nate Sudfeld
- Waived: DT Justin Hamilton
San Francisco 49ers
- Signed: T Bryce Harris
- Signed: CB Greg Mabin
Washington Redskins
- Placed on IR: S Stefan McClure
NFL Practice Squad Updates: 11/1/17
Here are today’s practice squad transactions.
Buffalo Bills
- Signed: TE Jason Croom
- Cut: TE Ryan O’Malley
Oakland Raiders
- Signed: RB Elijah Hood
San Francisco 49ers
- Signed: DB Tyvis Powell
49ers Won’t Guarantee Jimmy Garoppolo Plays This Season
Jimmy Garoppolo‘s contract expires at season’s end, but it doesn’t sound like the 49ers are planning to exclusively use his in-game work for this year’s team as an audition. In fact, the team isn’t certain its prized trade acquisition will play this season.
Prefacing his statement by noting it can take until quarterbacks’ second years in his system for them to learn it, Kyle Shanahan said he can’t promise Garoppolo will play in 2017. C.J. Beathard has been announced as San Francisco’s Week 9 starter, but Garoppolo — as the only other quarterback on the active roster — will be the backup.
“I know it’s going to take some time before he has an opportunity to play,” Shanahan said, via Eric Branch of the San Francisco Chronicle. “We didn’t bring Jimmy here to save our season. We brought Jimmy here to improve this organization.
“I can’t promise you guys that he won’t play this week. I can’t promise you guys that he’ll play this year. I know we have a guy that we’re excited about and I know he has the ability to really help us and help the team in the future. …I’m not going to put someone out there who I don’t think has a chance to be successful.”
The 49ers face the Giants in Week 10 and have a Week 11 bye. A somewhat logical Garoppolo debut date exists in Week 12, when the 49ers host the Seahawks. But Shanahan made it clear that Garoppolo is not a short-term fix.
Garoppolo is not tied to the 49ers after this season, but he can be franchise-tagged at a reasonable price (for a team projected to hold more than $61MM in cap space before any roster moves are made) of around $23MM. The 49ers certainly sound like this is a long-term arrangement, and while it would be a surprise if he didn’t debut for the team this season, it would stand to reason they’re hesitant about deploying their new quarterback on a winless outfit.
“Regardless of what happens [should Garoppolo play this season], I know it’s not the finished product,” Shanahan said.
Minor NFL Transactions: 10/31/17
Today’s minor moves:
Atlanta Falcons
- Activated from injured reserve: LB LaRoy Reynolds
- Placed on injured reserve: LB Jordan Tripp
Baltimore Ravens
- Promoted to active roster: OL Maurquice Shakir
- Released: WR Griff Whalen
Buffalo Bills
- Released: RB Joe Banyard
Detroit Lions
- Signed: OL Don Barclay
- Waived: OL Dan Skipper
Houston Texans
- Signed: T Kendall Lamm
- Signed off Patriots‘ practice squad: DL Angelo Blackson
- Placed on injured reserve: DL Christian Covington (story)
Miami Dolphins
- Activated from PUP: WR Rashawn Scott
- Placed on injured reserve: S Nate Allen, OL Anthony Steen
New York Giants
- Signed: DE Devin Taylor
- Placed on injured reserve: DE Nordly Capi
New York Jets
- Signed: DE Xavier Cooper
- Placed on injured reserve: TE Jordan Leggett
- Waived: DL Ed Stinson
Philadelphia Eagles
- Placed on injured reserve: LB Jordan Hicks (story)
San Francisco 49ers
- Released from injured reserve: CB Will Redmond
49ers Trade CB Rashard Robinson To Jets
The 49ers made their second deadline deal in two days, this time agreeing to send cornerback Rashard Robinson to the Jets, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets. The Jets gave the Niners a 2018 fifth-round pick in exchange, a source tells Manish Mehta of the Daily News (on Twitter). 
Robinson, a fourth-round pick last year, has started seven games for San Francisco this season. The Jets are hurting in the secondary presently, but the 22-year-old corner is under contract through the 2019 season. So, this represents a possible long-term piece for Gang Green.
The LSU product has started 13 games over the past two seasons. He’s deflected eight passes, forced a fumble and intercepted a pass during his sophomore NFL campaign. Robinson, though, ranks among Pro Football Focus’ worst-graded corners this season. This could be a short-term depth addition and a long-term developmental project.
New York is currently dealing with injuries to Morris Claiborne and Buster Skrine, making this an interesting way to go about patching up a secondary.
49ers Tried To Trade For Jimmy Garoppolo This Offseason
The 49ers made a seismic move on Monday night in trading for Jimmy Garoppolo, but the franchise attempted to make this trade earlier this offseason.
John Lynch said he pursued a Garoppolo swap earlier this year, but the 49ers and Patriots evidently couldn’t agree on terms.
“We studied him hard,” Lynch said, via 49ers.com (video link). “We studied him hard this offseason. We tried to do a deal this offseason. It didn’t come to fruition. It presented itself now and we felt like it was an opportunity we had to jump at.”
The 49ers made multiple moves to bring in new quarterbacks this offseason, only Lynch continued to say the team was monitoring the situation regarding the acquisition of a franchise quarterback. The team’s Brian Hoyer and C.J. Beathard transactions did not move the needle in this area, as expected, and Lynch said Tuesday that Beathard will now move into a situation where he can learn from Garoppolo long-term. The 49ers do not have a contract with Garoppolo yet, but that or a franchise tag would seem logical now that he’s under team control.
The Browns joined the 49ers in pursuing Garoppolo, being far more closely connected to the then-Patriots backup than the 49ers were, and made an offer during the draft. But there may have been a disconnect among the Browns about that potential move.
As for the Patriots, they are now without a Tom Brady successor. Bill Belichick said this choice was looming the past couple of years. Brady is signed through the 2019 season, and while there aren’t many parallels of quarterbacks playing well into their 40s, he’s defied age norms to this point. Belichick added today he views the 40-year-old passer as a year-to-year proposition, but in making this trade, it’s fairly clear the 18th-year Patriots coach believes Brady will be around for the foreseeable future.
“As [Garoppolo’s] career moves forward, we have to look at our team, both this year and beyond. We probably had, in my opinion, the best QB situation in the league for the last, call it, 2½ years,” Belichick said, via Josh Alper of Pro Football Talk. “It is just not sustainable given the way that things are set up.
“[The Brady-Garoppolo setup is] definitely not something we wanted to walk away from, and I felt we rode it out as long as we could. We’ve, over a period of time, explored every option possible to sustain it but, at this point, it felt like we had to make a decision. It’s a very complex situation on multiple levels. This is really the last window that we had and we did what we felt was best for the team.”
New England could look to add former Brady backup Brian Hoyer, whom the 49ers released on Monday night, as the post-Garoppolo insurance policy.
NFL Practice Squad Updates: 10/30/17
Today’s practice squad updates:
Arizona Cardinals
- Signed: T Javarius Leamon
Green Bay Packers
- Signed: FB Joe Kerridge
- Released: G Darrell Greene
Jacksonville Jaguars
- Signed: WR Montay Crockett
San Francisco 49ers
Washington Redskins
- Signed: T Givens Price
49ers To Place Jimmie Ward On IR
The 49ers will place safety Jimmie Ward and offensive tackle Garry Gilliam on season-ending injured reserve, head coach Kyle Shanahan told reporters, including Nick Wagoner of ESPN.com.
Ward, 26, suffered a broken arm in Sunday’s loss to the Eagles, so his placement on IR doesn’t come as a surprise. The former first-round pick had started six of seven games for the 49ers in 2017, but had only graded as the No. 69 safety among 87 qualifiers, per Pro Football Focus. San Francisco exercised Ward’s fifth-year option earlier this year, so he’ll back in the Bay Area in 2018. In the meantime, the 49ers will consider moving Eric Reid back to safety following a short stay at linebacker, tweets Matt Maiocco of the Bay Area News Group.
Gilliam, meanwhile, has barely played this season despite several injuries along the 49ers’ offensive line. He’d seen action on just 38 total snaps after inking a one-year, $2.2MM restricted free agent offer sheet with San Francisco (that the Seahawks declined to match). Gilliam does have 31 games of starting experience under his belt, but he’ll now hit 2018 free agency coming off an injury-marred campaign.
Ward and Gilliam aren’t the only 49ers’ players dealing with health questions, however. Left tackle Joe Staley will miss at least two games after suffering an orbital bone fracture on Sunday, while defensive lineman Solomon Thomas — who is dealing with a low-grade MCL sprain, tweets Ian Rapoport of NFL.com — will also miss roughly two weeks, Shanhan announced. While the winless 49ers aren’t going anywhere in 2017, Staley’s injury likely negates any chance that San Francisco would trade him before Tuesday’s deadline.
49ers To Release QB Brian Hoyer
After acquiring quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo from the Patriots, the 49ers are releasing veteran signal-caller Brian Hoyer, per Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (Twitter link).
With Garoppolo now in tow, San Francisco had no need for Hoyer, who inked a two-year deal with the club this season. Rookie C.J. Beathard will presumably serve as Garoppolo’s backup, while Hoyer — who had admittedly struggled through a half-season in the Bay Area — will now hit the open market.
Although completely speculative, the Patriots stand out as an obvious suitor for Hoyer. After trading Garoppolo, New England no longer has a quarterback on the roster aside from starter Tom Brady. Hoyer spent the 2009-11 campaigns with the Patriots after signing as an undrafted free agent, so he offers experience in the New England system. And he’ll also come cheap given that he’ll earn termination pay from the 49ers, meaning he can now comfortably sign for the minimum.
Indeed, Hoyer was originally included as part of the Patriots’ return for Garoppolo, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (Twitter link). However, because Hoyer was signed as a free agent this offseason, he would have counted in New England’s 2018 compensatory pick calculation, and would have canceled out a Pats fourth- or fifth-rounder next year, tweets Nick Korte of Over the Cap.
Hoyer, 32, started six games for the 49ers before getting benched in favor of Beathard, and didn’t perform nearly as well as he had with the Bears in 2016. While completing just 58% of his passes, Hoyer tossed four touchdowns against four interceptions, and ranked 28th in adjusted net yards per pass attempt and 30th in quarterback rating.
49ers To Acquire QB Jimmy Garoppolo
The 49ers have agreed to acquire quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo from the Patriots in exchange for a 2018 second-round pick, tweets Adam Schefter of ESPN.com. San Francisco owns two 2018 second-rounders, but New England will acquire the 49ers’ original pick, per Schefter (Twitter link).
The deal is a stunning transaction on multiple levels, but perhaps the most curious aspect of the trade is that New England hadn’t expressed in any interest in moving Garoppolo despite the presence of Tom Brady under center. Bill Belichick & Co. reportedly rejected multiple trade offers in exchange for Garoppolo before the draft, and instead dealt third-string quarterback Jacoby Brissett before the season began.
But instead of potentially using the franchise tag on Garoppolo next spring before trying to trade him, New England has moved him now following talks that began Monday morning, per Schefter (Twitter link). The fourth-year pro will head to San Francisco, where he’ll become the starting quarterback under head coach Kyle Shanahan not only for the rest of the 2017 campaign, but for the foreseeable future.
Garoppolo, of course, offers limited NFL experience, as he’s spent the majority of his Patriots tenure as Brady’s understudy. But the Eastern Illinois product was able to start two games for New England in 2016 while Brady was serving a four-game suspension. While Garoppolo played well in his time on the field, he was injured early in his second start, meaning the regular season film on him is extremely limited.
The 49ers will also need to work out an extension for Garoppolo, who is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent next season. While San Francisco could use the franchise tag in 2018, the club presumably wouldn’t have traded for Garoppolo if it didn’t have every intention of handing him a long-term contract. The 49ers rank in the top-five of cap space in each of the next three seasons, meaning they have ample funds to spend on their new signal-caller.
San Francisco’s acquisition of Garoppolo also has wide-ranging implications for the rest of the league and the 2018 quarterback market. Given the presence of Shanahan, the 49ers have long been viewed as the No. 1 destination for Redskins passer Kirk Cousins, who will become a free agent next spring barring a third consecutive franchise tender. San Francisco is now out of the Cousins equation, making next year’s open market all the more complicated.
The Patriots, meanwhile, are clearly banking on Brady (now age-40) playing for several more seasons, something he’s vowed to do. In the near-term, New England will need to add another quarterback, as Brady is now the only signal-caller on the club’s roster. The Pats auditioned several signal-callers, including Matt Barkley and Matt McGloin, earlier this year.