Tony Romo: 49ers may get more for Jimmy Garoppolo during preseason

San Francisco 49ers veteran quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo continues to be linked in trade rumors with clubs such as the Seattle Seahawks, Cleveland Browns and Houston Texans. As things stand today, though, it's assumed Garoppolo is beneath 2021 rookie Trey Lance on the San Francisco depth chart. 

Lance took control of springtime practice sessions as Garoppolo recovered from March shoulder surgery, and NFL Network's Brian Baldinger argued last week that Jimmy G may need to make a preseason appearance or two next month to answer any questions that teams have about his latest physical setback. As David Bonilla mentioned for 49ers WebZone, former signal-caller and current CBS analyst Tony Romo offered a similar take while speaking on Wednesday's edition of "The Zach Gelb Show." 

"The biggest thing is he's got to get healthy, his shoulder injury," Romo said of Garoppolo. "When he gets healthy, you'll see teams coming in. Right now, the Niners, I think, are staying pat because the sooner a quarterback gets injured in preseason or in camp—something usually happens where someone gets banged up a little bit—I think you'll see that will be where someone with value will go up, and the Niners will get more value than they're getting right now. And I think that's when they're going to pull the trigger on that." 

The Seahawks plan to have journeyman Geno Smith compete with 2019 second-round draft pick Drew Lock for their starting job this summer. Garoppolo presumably would be an upgrade over both, but Romo pointed out the 49ers likely won't be too keen on the idea of the 30-year-old staying in the NFC West even for a single season.

"You know this person knows your team, inside and out, and you don't want, necessarily, someone else in the division to have that kind of information or that talent and that ability," Romo added during his comments. "... If [the 49ers] view [Garoppolo] as a really talented guy but think Trey's just a little bit more talented, they probably won't do that and trade him within the division. But if they view him not at that level, then that will be different."

It is also possible some within the Niners are actually concerned about Lance's "arm fitness" and supposed "arm fatigue" problems, to the point that they wouldn't mind keeping Garoppolo in the team's quarterback room through at least the preseason.