Report: 49ers kept Jimmy Garoppolo over concerns Trey Lance 'won't be good enough'

The San Francisco 49ers reversed course Monday when they restructured Jimmy Garoppolo's contract to keep the quarterback with the team for the 2022 season after previously insisting he'd be traded. 

While Trey Lance is still expected to be the 49ers' starter with Garoppolo returning as a backup, at least a couple of 49ers reporters think there's a quarterback controversy brewing in San Francisco.

"This is a hedge, plain and simple," Michael Silver of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote about the Garoppolo deal. "And the reason the 49ers are hedging is because they're worried that Lance, for all his promise, won't be good enough to get their built-to-win-now team to its only acceptable destination -- Glendale, Ariz., next February 12, with [owner Jed] York hoisting the franchise's sixth Lombardi Trophy."

Matt Maiocco of NBC Sports Bay Area shared a similar sentiment during a radio appearance on KNBR.

"Not only does [Lance] have a safety net, if the 49ers lose September 11th at Chicago and Trey Lance doesn't play well? That safety net might just become a trampoline that bounces over Trey Lance and could be the starter the next week," Maiocco said, via Niners Nation. "Now it's not so clear cut that the number one quarterback is the number one quarterback, and the onus is certainly on Trey Lance to prove it every week."

Lance was the third overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft and finished his preseason with one passing touchdown and no interceptions. Garoppolo finished the 2021 season with 20 touchdowns and 12 interceptions.