NFL: Garoppolo-Trade: Why now?

The NFL has finally got a shocker for the Trade-Deadline! Jimmy Garoppolo leaves the New England Patriots and joins the San Francisco 49ers. It’s a trade that could change the entire league – but what exactly does it mean for both teams? What does it mean to Tom Brady? And why was Jimmy G. that cheap? SPOX looks at the most important questions.

It was the thrill of Monday evening that stole the show from the Chiefs’ victory over the Broncos: The San Francisco 49ers are picking up quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo from the patriots just a few hours before the trade deadline and are shaking up the quarterback market in 2018 in advance.

Especially surprising? The low price. San Francisco reportedly “only” pays a second-round pick for Garoppolo, after a few months ago other prices were mentioned. At the same time, the 49ers announced that quarterback Brian Hoyer had been fired. Hoyer had his starting place after quite weak appearances already at Rookie C. J. Beathard lost.

However, this does not mean that Garoppolo inevitably moves into the starting line-up in San Francisco immediately. The Niners have huge problems in the pass-protection, Beathard has had a lot of violent hits in the past weeks. A scenario is well conceivable in which Niners coach Kyle Shanahan Garoppolo will spend a few weeks learning the system.

At the same time, however, San Francisco will sooner or later want to throw in the ex-patriots quarterback and see for themselves what Garoppolo shows in Shanahan’s system. After all, his contract expires after the season and the 49ers have to make a decision about whether and under what conditions they want to keep Garoppolo.

Page 1: What happened?

Page 2: Why was the price so low?

Page 3: What does the Garoppolo trade mean for the 49ers?

Page 4: What does the Garoppolo trade mean for the Patriots?

Page 5: What does the Garoppolo trade mean for the quarterback market?