A 'lot of smoke' surrounding 49ers, Matthew Stafford

Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford Raj Mehta-USA TODAY Sports

Report: There's a 'lot of smoke' surrounding 49ers and Matthew Stafford

By Erin Walsh | Last updated 1/29/21

The San Francisco 49ers' marriage with Jimmy Garoppolo could end this offseason, especially if they have a real shot at Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford.

NFL Network's Ian Rapoport reported earlier this week that about "a third of the league" has called the Lions about a Stafford trade. One of those teams might have been San Francisco. According to KOA NewsRadio's Benjamin Allbright, there is "a lot of smoke" surrounding the 49ers and Stafford this week.

Have a messed up screen on my phone, hence the updates being sparse.

Lot of smoke around Niners and Stafford this week. In Mobile. We'll see.

Be back and active on here tomorrow.
— Benjamin Allbright (@AllbrightNFL) January 28, 2021

Where there's smoke, there's usually fire, so the 49ers potentially trading for Stafford wouldn't come as a surprise.

However, Niners head coach Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch publicly backed Garoppolo this offseason, indicating he'll be the team's starter in 2021 after a disappointing, injury-marred 2020 campaign. Of course, that could change, and their statements came before they realized Stafford would be on the market.

During the 2020 campaign, Stafford completed 64.2% of his passes for 4,084 yards and 26 touchdowns against 10 interceptions. He also averaged the second-highest yards per attempt of his career (7.7) and recorded his fifth-highest passer rating (96.3).

If the 49ers land Stafford, there's a possibility Garoppolo ends up back in New England alongside Bill Belichick, but that's a conversation for another day.

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