Why Rams, not 49ers, are model for how to upgrade at QB
The arms race for an elite quarterback could go hand-in-hand with winning the NFL.
In recent years, several teams have dropped quarterbacks that were considered okay in hopes of finding someone better. In 2021, the Rams made the move from Jared Goff when they traded Matthew Stafford from the Lions. The 49ers took a different approach when trying to replace Jimmy Garoppolo, trading several draft picks, including three first-round picks, to move up the draft and select an unproven Trey Lance.
A year later, the Rams are reigning Super Bowl champions while the 49ers are in an awkward position with Garoppolo as Lance sat out much of his rookie season before suffering a season-ending week 2 injury.
For Colin Cowherd, there’s one question that needs to be answered when moving to quarterback: You have to find a much better solution, and going through the draft isn’t the best way.
“The 49ers roster is too good to give right now to someone like Trey Lance, who we don’t know if he can play,” Cowherd said Thursday on The Herd. “You can’t move Garoppolo for that. You can’t move Tua and Goff for that. The NFL draft gives us one great quarterback a year, or about 1.5 great quarterbacks in the last 20 years.”
Why Jimmy G, Tua and Jared Goff are the NFL’s ‘Most Underrated QBs’
Colin Cowherd shared why the 49ers, Dolphins and Lions need to be careful about how they handle their quarterback situations.
The 49ers and Rams situations are just two of the more recent examples of teams walking away from quarterbacks because they saw them as good but not good enough. The Dolphins dealt with questions this offseason as to whether or not Tua Tagovailoa was good enough to be a franchise quarterback. (It didn’t help Tagovailoa’s case that Miami manipulated Tom Brady in recent seasons.)
Goff finds himself at the center of yet another quarterback situation, this time in Detroit, as the Lions are in the second year of their post-Stafford days.
Cowherd went through the respective resumes for each of the above quarterbacks. Garoppolo has a 98.6 passer rating with a 2-to-1 touchdown interception ratio and has won 69.4% of his 49 career starts. Goff made the Super Bowl with the Rams and has a 93.5 passer rating with the Lions while winning four more games than he has lost in his career. Tagovailoa has the league’s best passer rating so far in the 2022 season and is 16-9 as a starter.
To get away from these kinds of quarterbacks, according to Cowherd, there has to be a movement similar to that of the defending Super Bowl champions a year ago.
“If you want to move a Garoppolo or Tua and I’m not a Tua fan or Goff you have to give me an answer or a solution e.g [Sean] McVay did it,” Cowherd said. “McVay said, ‘I like Goff, but I’m going up with someone from the league – Stafford.’ OK. If you see Garoppolo for whoever you are in the league, that’s better than Stafford being out there for them, OK. If you want to leave Tua for someone like a Derek Carr who’s better for me, OK.
“But the quarterback game up front is so good now that we find Garoppolo, Goff and Tua like, ‘Oh just get me a college guy! Get me an FCS guy who hasn’t played much.’ Are you crazy? Do you know how good you have to be to get Garoppolo, Goff and Tua’s numbers? Two of them have been to Super Bowls. The Rams got it right.”
Get more out of the National Football League Follow your favorites to get information about games, news and more