SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Jimmy Garoppolo is staying in San Francisco after agreeing to a reduced contract to be the backup to Trey Lance on the 49ers.
A person familiar with the deal said on condition of anonymity Monday that the sides are finalizing a deal to reduce Garoppolo’s $24.2 million base salary for 2022. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the deal hadn’t been announced.
ESPN reported Garoppolo will receive a $6.5 million fully guaranteed base salary, $500,000 in roster bonuses and the chance to make nearly $9 million more in playing time bonuses. The deal also includes a no-trade clause and prevents San Francisco from using the franchise tag on Garoppolo next offseason.
The Niners had been unable to find a trade partner for Garoppolo and were facing a deadline with rosters being cut to 53 players on Tuesday.
They were unwilling to keep Garoppolo as a backup at his full salary, and with no chances at a starting job on another, the two sides found a compromise.
Garoppolo had not taken part in a single practice or meeting with the team this training camp, working out on the side on his own as he works his way back from offseason shoulder surgery.
But after spending the past five years in San Francisco, he should have little problem getting back up to speed on Coach Kyle Shanahan’s offense and he gives the Niners insurance if Lance struggles or gets hurt.
The other quarterbacks on the roster are seventh-round rookie Brock Purdy and Nate Sudfeld, who hasn’t started a game in the NFL.
TITANS: The Tennessee Titans told three-time Pro Bowl punter Brett Kern that he will be released, going with an undrafted rookie to replace the man who had been their longest-tenured player.
Titans GM Jon Robinson said in a statement that Kern embodies everything they look for in a player for Tennessee.
Kern spent 13 seasons with Tennessee after being picked up off waivers during the 2009 season. He joined former linebacker Derrick Morgan as the only players to play for each coach the Titans have had since the franchise moved to Tennessee in 1997.
TRADE: Receiver Laviska Shenault, a second-round draft pick in 2020, is getting a fresh start in Carolina.
The Jacksonville Jaguars traded Shenault to the Panthers for an undisclosed draft pick in 2023.
JAGUARS: The Jacksonville Jaguars made their first round of final roster cuts, releasing two veterans in safety Rudy Ford and receiver Laquon Treadwell.
The team also released linebacker Tyrell Adams and offensive lineman KC McDermott, and waived defensive lineman Auzoyah Alufohai, running back Ryquell Armstead, cornerback Benjie Franklin, safety Brandon Rusnak, linebacker Chapelle Russell and offensive tackle Badara Traore.
COMMANDERS: Rookie running back Brian Robinson Jr. “was able to wrestle a firearm away” from one of the two men attempting to rob him Sunday before the other suspect shot him twice, Washington D.C. police said.
The men, who were both armed, approached Robinson after he left a storefront shortly before 6 p.m. Robinson was taken to MedStar Washington Hospital Center for treatment of injuries that are not believed to be life-threatening. On Monday, he wrote on Instagram that he’d undergone surgery, which “went well.”
VIKINGS: Wide receiver Bisi Johnson will miss the season with a knee injury for the second straight year.
Johnson was placed on injured reserve one day before the NFL’s deadline for reducing rosters to the 53-player limit for the regular season. The fourth-year player was hurt in the team’s final preseason game at Denver on Saturday, after which Coach Kevin O’Connell confirmed the injury was serious.
Johnson suffered a torn ACL during training camp last year.
DOLPHINS: Running back Sony Michel and wide receiver Mohamed Sanu were among 13 roster moves by Miami on Monday.
Michel, a two-time Super Bowl champion and a former first-round pick of the Patriots, has totaled 3,137 career rushing yards, but could not break through a crowded backfield. He struggled to effectively produce throughout training camp and in the preseason but scored a 1-yard touchdown in Saturday’s preseason win against the Philadelphia Eagles.
Sanu, 33, who signed with Miami as the team started training camp on July 26, has 435 receptions for 4,871 yards and 27 touchdowns in his 10-year NFL career.
CHIEFS: Wide receivers JuJu Smith-Schuster and Marquez Valdes-Scantling were back at practice, raising expectations that the duo will be ready for their season opener against Arizona.
Smith-Schuster has missed the past two weeks, including the Chiefs’ final two preseason games, with a sore knee that popped up in practice. Valdes-Scantling missed last week’s preseason finale against Green Bay in the concussion protocol.
A NEW JERSEY man who posed as a former New England Patriots player so he could try to sell Super Bowl rings he falsely claimed were gifts to Tom Brady’s family was sentenced to three years in prison.
Scott Spina Jr., now 25, was also ordered to pay $63,000 in restitution to the unnamed former Patriots player he posed as in order to obtain “family versions” of the 2017 Super Bowl championship rings, one of which sold at auction for more than $337,000, according to the U.S. Attorneys Office.
Along with the ring itself, the former Patriots player later told federal investigators that he gave Spina all the paperwork the player had received in connection to the ring, which happened to include information that allowed players to order from the manufacturer smaller Super Bowl rings for their family members and friends.
Posing as the former Patriots player, Spina ordered three “family-and-friends” championship rings from the manufacturer, each engraved with the name “Brady.” He reportedly claimed to employees at the manufacturer that the rings were meant to be gifts for “the baby of quarterback Tom Brady,” prosecutors said.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
