49ers legend addresses Jimmy Garoppolo, Kyle Shanahan kerfuffle

San Francisco 49ers legend Joe Montana responded to recent comments offered by Las Vegas Raiders quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo and 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan. 

"Well, I think injuries happen in this game, and you have to be ready to play," Montana said during an appearance on San Francisco sports radio station 95.7 The Game, per Tristi Rodriguez of NBC Sports Bay Area. "I thought for the longest time that they were going to find a way to keep Jimmy here because the one thing that he could do for them was win games. And come off the bench if he had to. I think the salary cap issues were a big problem and from my understanding, I don't spend a lot of time down there, but I'm sure there were some other things going on internally that happened that kind of soured the Niners to Jimmy."

Garoppolo originally joined the 49ers during the 2017 campaign and was with the organization until he signed with Las Vegas this past offseason. He generated headlines earlier this week when he said that his former employer trading signal-caller Trey Lance to the Dallas Cowboys was merely one of "a lot of weird situations over there in San Francisco." Shanahan later said he was "really not concerned about (Garoppolo's) comments." 

Garoppolo helped the 49ers qualify for the NFC Championship Game in January 2022 but then unofficially lost the starting job to Lance in the spring of that year. The 31-year-old ultimately agreed to a restructured contract that included a pay cut to stay with the club through last season.

Garoppolo and Lance both suffered season-ending injuries in 2022 and then became surplus to requirements in San Francisco when Brock Purdy emerged as a rookie sensation beginning in December. While Purdy is now comfortably atop the 49ers' depth chart, Garoppolo and Lance will begin the upcoming campaign with different teams. 

Montana, of course, famously lost the San Francisco starting gig to fellow Hall of Famer Steve Young in the early 1990s and, thus, can understand Garoppolo's feelings this summer. 

"You can go back to when I was playing, it was a strange situation there for a while too," Montana continued during the radio segment. "Back and forth with Steve and I. So it happens in every organization and every era. It is what it is and you just move on and make the best of where you are. I'm sure Jimmy will win some games for them down there in Vegas so I wish him the best."

The Raiders crushed the 49ers 34-7 in a preseason game on Aug. 13. Those two sides won't play again this season unless they both complete journeys to Super Bowl LVIII.