Pros and cons of Commanders trading for Jimmy Garoppolo

Con: Lengthy injury history

Like Carson Wentz, Garoppolo comes with great injury risk. In five years as the 49ers’ starting quarterback, the former second-round pick has played a full season just once. He’s started an average of nine games during that span and has played 46 of a possible 81 regular season games, or 56.7%.

The encouraging thing is that 38 of those starts have come in the last three seasons, so Garoppolo has improved in the durability department. It’s also worth noting that he’s largely avoided catastrophic injuries over his career, with his only encounter coming in the form of a torn ACL early on in the 2018 season.

With that said, Garoppolo is prone to the occasional small-scale injury (usually strains/sprains) that sideline him for weeks at a time. In fact, he’s suffered five different variations of sprains (AC/joint sprain, two Grade 3 high-ankle sprains, a calf strain, and most recently a shoulder sprain in this year’s playoffs.

Those missed games add up, so it would behoove the Commanders to have a viable backup (Taylor Heinicke or a potential draftee) waiting in the wings in the event Garoppolo picks up a knock.

Pro: He’s an upgrade/Leadership

At the end of the day, Washington is looking to upgrade at quarterback and Garoppolo would represent a significant upgrade in that regard. While he isn’t the long-term solution, he’ll help Washington be more competitive in a weak NFC East, win up to 10 games and maybe even make the playoffs.

For his career, Garoppolo has completed 67.7% of his passes for 71 touchdowns, 38 interceptions and a 98.9 passer rating. He owns a 33-14 career record, meaning he wins more than two games for every loss in games he’s started. His .702 win percentage is the third-best among active QBs who’ve started at least 45 games.

As far as leadership is concerned, it’s been clear that Garoppolo’s had the respect of San Francisco’s locker room.

With a military background, Ron Rivera covets leadership qualities in a quarterback. That was a big reason why Washington’s head coach stuck with Heinicke down the stretch of 2021 when he had ample opportunities to turn to Kyle Allen.

Throughout the season when fans and pundits were calling for No. 3 overall pick Trey Lance to start, Garoppolo’s teammates had his back. Look no further than Deebo Samuel coming to his QB’s defense amid media backlash after the 49ers’ heartbreaking NFC Championship Game loss to the Rams.

Don’t overlook Garoppolo’s leadership as one of his best qualities.