The 49ers will do everything they can to keep Jimmy Garoppolo

Jimmy Garoppolo had the San Francisco 49ers feeling as good as any team and fan base could at the end of a 6-10 season in recent memory.

The team traded for Garoppolo on Halloween, but he didn’t immediately see action. After falling to 1-10 and an injury to C.J. Beathard, Kyle Shanahan let the inevitable happen, starting Garoppolo in Week 13.

The 49ers didn’t lose a game the rest of the season.

They’ve been looking for their franchise quarterback since the end of the Colin Kaepernick era in San Francisco. After trading a second-round pick for a quarterback who went 5-0 with 1,560 yards, seven touchdowns, and five interceptions, it makes sense that he’s going to receive a nice payday.

And they have to. After Kaepernick’s departure, the 49ers let Brian Hoyer and C.J. Beathard take over the reins, and it was genuinely ugly. They were nearing Browns levels of bad. In their 31 games before his starts, the 49ers went 4-27.

At his Tuesday season-ending news conference, GM John Lynch told reporters via ESPN: “Look, we want Jimmy to be a Niner for a long, long time, and that process is going to take place here and we’re eager to get that done, to have the opportunity.”

Lynch mentioned that he wanted negotiations to remain internal, and avoid Garoppolo being able to test the free agent market in March.

And when he was asked about whether or not he’d be willing to pay Garoppolo money that proven quarterbacks get, he seemed fine with it.

“We’re going to work hard to try to keep him as a 49er for a long, long time,” Lynch said. “We’re really happy with the way he played. We think he’s got some abilities that are unique, and we want him here.”

The team that was going to eventually trade for Garoppolo was automatically going to be under the assumption that he’d be a long-term fix. Garoppolo has shown be could be that, and will end up getting paid as such.

The worst-case scenario for the 49ers is that they have to use the franchise tag to extend their chances of signing him long term. The 49ers can tag Garoppolo as soon as Feb. 20, with a deadline of March 6 to actually implement it.

But Lynch and the 49ers don’t feel like that’ll be necessary.

“I think we’ve had conversations with him and we know where he stands, and we’re comfortable with that,” Lynch said.

As of the writing of his post, he sure seems like it. Top quarterback deals nowadays are at around $25 million per year, which would be around what the franchise tag would be. It’s mind-blowing how impressive the 49ers have looked in the five games that he started compared to the previous 11. This also comes as he’s had minimal time to take in Shanahan’s offense.

Garoppolo’s 1,542 passing yards was a franchise record for a player’s first five starts with the team. The 49ers actually looked like contenders, especially after a Week 16 win over the Jaguars in which Garoppolo went 21 of 30 for 242 yards, two touchdowns, and one interception against the NFL’s best defense.

But Lynch also likes what Garoppolo did outside of himself.

“He was great for us and he made people around him better and I think that’s the mark of a player who has an opportunity to be special is, do you make people around you better? He did that.”

The NFL Films video of Garoppolo leading the 49ers on their two-minute drive against the Titans to set up a game-winning field goal made the rounds two weeks ago. He’s gushing with confidence, talking to his teammates about routes and coverages, and pumping up his offensive line.

He even acts like a franchise quarterback.