The Patriots have officially traded backup quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo to the San Francisco 49ers for a second-round pick in the 2018 NFL Draft. This trade comes as a major surprise to just about everyone, especially after the Patriots did not trade Garoppolo during the 2017 offseason or NFL Draft. There were reports all offseason and even on draft night that the Cleveland Browns had major interest in acquiring the quarterback, but the Patriots did not want to move on from Garoppolo. There were even some rumors and reports claiming that the Browns were willing to trade two first-round draft picks to acquire the Patriots backup.

There are a few different ways you could look at this trade; don’t like that the Patriots traded Garoppolo in general, don’t like how they didn’t trade him for the rumored Cleveland deal during the last NFL offseason, or happy that they moved on from Garoppolo and still at least get something for him. Consider me part of the latter two. Garoppolo’s trade value was never going to be higher than it was this past NFL offseason after playing a good six quarters against the Arizona Cardinals and Miami Dolphins during Tom Brady’s four-game suspension, and he had one year left on his deal. The Patriots could have moved on from Garoppolo then and potentially could have gotten more in a deal, they didn’t. Belichick coveted Garoppolo and talked great about him all offseason to the point you didn’t think he was trying to drive up trade value, you got the sense that Belichick believed in Garoppolo and him potentially being the quarterback of the future for the Patriots.

The question then comes to why trade Garoppolo now? Many reasons, the biggest likely being the play of Tom Brady, who at 40-years old has shown no signs of regressing and seems to be getting better with age. Another reason could be maybe the team has had talks with Garoppolo and his agent Don Yee that could have gone bad where maybe Garoppolo said he didn’t want to be in New England after the year and wouldn’t sign an extension with the team or wouldn’t sign the franchise tag if it was given to him by the team in the offseason; which wouldn’t allow the team to trade him, ultimately making him a free agent following the 2018 season and the team getting nothing for him. And then there’s the reality that the Patriots are banged up on both sides of the football and that they likely need to make a move before the trade deadline at 4pm on Tuesday. The Patriots only had five draft picks for the upcoming 2018 NFL Draft prior to the Garoppolo deal, making it hard to move any of their current picks to acquire players in any potential trade. The only way to get more assets is to give up one of your own, and the Patriots had a great one to give up just sitting on their bench. I fully expect the Patriots to make another big move before the trade deadline, either giving up their own first round pick or the pick they acquired from San Francisco, which will likely end up being number 33 or 34 overall.

I was never a big Garoppolo fan or a believer that he was the quarterback of the future. I thought he could have and should have played last year following the AC Joint injury in his shoulder because he was fighting for a job, if not here than somewhere. People make the argument “he had a good six quarters” and that’s all it was, six quarters. People also often forget about the four bad quarters he had against Buffalo in the 2014 season finale, though I even give him some benefit of the doubt there that he had more time to learn and develop. But what about the struggles every year in training camp and preseason that he had? I never saw what other people did in Garoppolo where he was going to be a great NFL quarterback, I think he would and will probably be good but he won’t be great. I LOVE this trade because you’re still getting something for him while you can, and I think what you got will turn into something else before the 4pm trade deadline on Tuesday.

PS: Brady for five more years!!!

PPS: Former Patriots quarterback Brian Hoyer was just released as I’m writing this, guarantee he will be signed as the Patriots backup.