LA Rams rival 49ers are in full blown roster turmoil right now

The LA Rams are a bit innovative in the offseason. On the opposite corner of the NFL roster-building board, you will find the San Francisco 49ers. The Rams are a bit unorthodox, spontaneous, and opportunistic. The 49ers are conventional, deliberate, and rather predictable. Until the 2021 NFL season, many tried to argue that the 49ers had the better success, the more tangible results, and the best roster assembled to suit their objectives.

Right now, I don’t think anyone believes that to be the case.

It all began a year ago when the 49ers, in realizing that the quarterback talent was deep in the 2021 NFL Draft and almost non-existent in the 2022 NFL Draft, traded multiple picks to be in a position to draft one of the talented 2021 quarterbacks, Trey Lance.  Curiously, the 49ers still had starting quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo under contract for two seasons.

Not a problem, they surmised. The team would start Garoppolo in 2021, train Trey Lance for a season, and then at the end of the year trade Garoppolo for a huge haul of draft picks, save a ton of cap space, and then start a very talented Lance in his second NFL season.  Ah, but the best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry.

Garoppolo suffers a significant shoulder injury

The first of several hiccups occurred during the Wild Card Round of the NFL Playoffs, as quarterback Garoppolo suffered an injury at the hands of the Dallas Cowboys. While the heroics of Garoppolo would advance the 49ers all the way to an NFC Championship loss to the LA Rams, there would be even worse repercussions.

Garoppolo needed corrective surgery on his throwing arm with one-season remaining on his contract. His salary-cap hit to the 49ers in 2022 is $26.95 million.  All but $1.4 million accompanies him to his new team. Ah, but let’s revisit that surgery status, shall we?

Teams are very hesitant to scrape together a trade package for a somewhat inaccurate quarterback slated to make $25.5 million and not able to throw again for many months. So the plans of a huge haul and a quick trade of QB Garoppolo are now sitting on the team’s scrap pile.

How do you solve a problem like Garoppolo?

How do you catch a cloud and pin it down? The second challenge is likely an easier matter to solve for the San Francisco 49ers right now. The 49ers can wait out the NFL trade market, and risk damaging the development of Trey Lance and their salary cap flexibility. The team can cut Garoppolo outright, and by doing so free up a lot of salary cap space and ensure that Lance stays on track.

But cutting Garoppolo after last season’s heroics seems…foolish and disrespectful. Or the team can lower the asking price, perhaps even to the point of throwing in a later draft pick, and assuming the position of a salary cap dump type of trade? But that is even less return than Garoppolo’s outright release. It does, however, give the team control over where he plays next.

Originally, the 49ers were at a casual pace. But the sudden inflation of wide receiver salaries has WR Deebo Samuel sniffing around for more money. And while the Niners’ front office reportedly agreed to discuss the matter, new developments have altered the dialogue.

Now Deebo demands to be dealt to another NFL team

Now the 49ers have more seismic activity on their roster. The Niners are trying to trade Garoppolo, but nobody is interested until he is healthy and throwing again. And they are not trying to trade WR Deebo Samuel, but Samuel is demanding to be traded.

The curious thing about all of this is that the LA Rams were the last team to face the 49ers. After six consecutive losses to the 49ers, the Rams finally defeated them. In the loss, both Garoppolo and Samuel were handled pretty harshly by the very physical Rams defense.

And now, chaos in the 49ers locker room? I’d like to be sympathetic, and in a way I am. But from the players to many of the 49ers fans, this just feels like Karma finally making its way back to return a taste to them that they ruthlessly dealt out in trolling at every occasion possible. Will this be resolved amicably?

I don’t see that path right now. All I see is a team that has finally succumbed to their own trolling patterns.