The Stupidest Rumor of 2022 - a Jimmy G-to-Tampa Trade - Just Got Murdered by the Alleged Source of the Rumor

Jerry Thornton7/11/2022 5:50 PM

Michael Loccisano. Getty Images.

Let's begin by stating one obvious point that is as true today as it was in the spring of last year when the 49ers traded three first round picks to land the third pick in the 2021 draft: The Niners need to move Jimmy Garoppolo. That is a fact not in dispute by anyone. Painfully obvious. Goes without saying. "Water is wet," and so on.

Regardless of what anyone's opinion of Trey Lance might be, John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan married their San Francisco careers to him when they passed on Justin Fields and Mac Jones. He's theirs. For better or for worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, until failure do they part.

But the necessity of trading Jimmy G, his bad shoulder, $24 million, and the fact his ex-teammates in New England thought he was "a bitch" notwithstanding:

… we can't let the Niners blatant need to get Garoppolo off the roster make us lose our bloody brains.

Even in the heights of NFL silly season, trade rumors have to make some tiny fricking iota of sense. Otherwise the once no noble institution of trade rumormongering just becomes a pathetic joke. Something to generate clicks and controversy and nothing more. Consider the one being promoted on Dan Sileo's show about Jimmy G reuniting with Tom Brady in Tampa:

"I know Don Yee very well. Don Yee is the representative for Tom Brady and Jimmy Garoppolo. That so-called angst between them in New England, that was made up by the media. Those two guys are dear friends. The animosity was more toward Bill Belichick than it was toward Garoppolo. Brady and Garoppolo text each other all the time and are friends. They have the same agent. Those two guys are in constant communication. …
"This would be the ultimate slap in the face to Belichick if Brady retires and Garoppolo is the heir apparent, but they do it in Tampa and not New England. This was supposed to be the plan in New England, not in Tampa Bay. …The Buccaneers would love to have Jimmy G in Tampa as the heir apparent. So Garoppolo would go to Tampa as the backup and once Brady leaves, there's Jimmy G with a ready-made team again like he had in San Francisco and in New England. It's a no-brainer."

While I don't dispute that Garoppolo and Brady got along a lot better in Foxboro than the reports that said Brady resented him, demanded he be traded and deactivated his keycard to TB12 Fitness (an outright lie), the idea the Bucs would once again put the best player in franchise history in a position of having Jimmy G looking over his shoulder again is pure lunacy. The kind of pointless speculation with no basis in fact that does a gross disservice to the entire trade rumor industry. And disprovable by simply going to the source.

In a way, I get it. There's a natural Confirmation Bias that happens any time people hear something they want to be true. It happens all the time when the speculation involves the potential of Bill Belichick looking bad. So "OMG, wouldn't it be wild if Jimmy G is the heir apparent to Brady, but in Tampa? Belichick would HATE that!" becomes, "I hear Tampa is interest in trading for Garoppolo." Hell, all those reports about friction between the two quarterbacks were fueled by this same cognitive bias. Everyone believed them because it was a great narrative for the Belichick haters. He'd created a situation that tore his team apart and alienated the greatest winner in the history of the sport, and all that. Now some of those same people want to push the narrative that Brady now wants welcome Garoppolo back into his warm, sweet embrace. They want to have it both ways.

Thankfully, we not only have Don Yee to put a stop to this ridiculousness. Though his word alone should be enough. A source within the Bucs organization is letting it be know what they're assessment is:

And anyone who's been paying attention to the Bucs the last two years can see that if that's one coach's opinion, it's Brady's too. Since he's the one calling the shots in that organization, from the huddle on game day to every personnel decision and everywhere in between.

The 49ers still have a Jimmy G problem. One they're going to have to resolve. And soon. Because moving him will get harder by the day as training camp season approcaches. But let's not act like imbeciles chasing nonsensical rumors like he's going to be Brady's backup again. Show some dignity.

P.S. Belichick went to four Super Bowls and won three after drafting Jimmy G. Then got the future QB of his dreams. He's just fine with whatever happens with these other guys. Just. Fine.