49ers HC Kyle Shanahan: Restructured contract makes it easier to trade Jimmy Garoppolo

The San Francisco 49ers completed a journey from the early days of the current NFL year in March through the final preseason games played this past weekend without ever receiving what they deemed to be a palatable trade offer for veteran quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo. 

While the 49ers made it clear to anybody who would listen this past spring that 2021 rookie Trey Lance was their new QB1, Garoppolo was set to earn a $24.2 million base salary for 2022 once his money became guaranteed ahead of the Week 1 game at the Chicago Bears on Sept. 11. 

However, it was reported Monday that Garoppolo and the 49ers had agreed to a restructured contract that drops the 30-year-old's salary-cap number for the upcoming campaign to around $8.5 million. The agreement contains a no-trade and no-tag clause, but head coach Kyle Shanahan admitted while speaking with reporters Tuesday that the deal could make it easier for the Niners to move Jimmy G to a would-be buyer before the fall trade deadline. 

"The less a contract is, the more enticing you always are at every single position, for every team. So that would be 'yes' [to that] question," Shanahan responded when asked about the situation, per David Bonilla of 49ers WebZone.

For a piece published Monday evening, Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio explained why Garoppolo's no-trade clause "means nothing" as it pertains to the next couple of months. 

"A trade will happen only if a starter with another team suffers an injury, if that team wants Garoppolo, if that team is willing to give the 49ers what they want for Garoppolo, and if Garoppolo wants to go," Florio wrote. "The team won’t make an investment on a part-year rental for Garoppolo if he doesn’t want to step in and replace the injured starter." 

In short, Garoppolo could still find himself starting for a different franchise by or shortly after Thanksgiving Day depending on what occurs throughout the first half of the season.