Hall of Fame tight end Tony Gonzalez believes QB Jimmy Garoppolo deserved better from the San Francisco 49ers

By all accounts, the only thing for sure about the working relationship between the San Francisco 49ers and quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo heading into the final weekend of August is that it's about to come to an end. 

The 49ers have 2021 rookie Trey Lance atop their depth chart at the sport's most important position, and no trade partner has yet sent assets to San Francisco for Garoppolo's services. Unless the 49ers curiously decide to keep the 30-year-old on their roster until his $24.2 million base salary for 2022 becomes guaranteed ahead of the Week 1 matchup at the Chicago Bears on Sept. 11, a divorce via a release is imminent. 

Garoppolo helped the 49ers complete trips to a pair of NFC Championship contests and earn a berth in Super Bowl LIV, where he and his current employer fell to the Kansas City Chiefs. While he never became one of the NFL's elite quarterbacks during his San Francisco tenure, Pro Football Hall-of-Famer Tony Gonzalez argued during the Amazon Prime Video broadcast of Thursday's 49ers-Houston Texans preseason game that the signal-caller deserved better. 

"I don’t like the way they treated him, not at all," Gonzalez said of the 49ers and Garoppolo, per Eduardo Razo of NBC Sports Bay Area. "He’s on the field; he’s going to win 70 percent of the time over his career. A guy of his caliber, 'Let me go, let me get out there to another team.'

"I don’t know if he’s OK with that. … If I was Jimmy, 'I bet you’re costing me money. I could have been out there on another team helping them get better and my career. Now it’s so late.' It’s going to be detrimental; I don’t think detrimental but tougher."

It's been said the 49ers haven't yet released Garoppolo because they believe the division-rival Seattle Seahawks would sign him to eventually start him over both Geno Smith and Drew Lock. San Francisco hosts Seattle in Week 2 of the upcoming season on Sept. 18.