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The conversation between Aaron Rodgers and the San Francisco 49ers starts early. Maybe almost a year earlier.
First, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk explored the idea of the future Hall of Fame member joining the team from his hometown and the organization that was passed in 2005 by Alex Smith. Now, ESPN’s First take join the discussion.
Rodgers’ days at Green Bay may be numbered after the team selected Jordan Love in the first round of the April draft. After enduring more than a month of discussion earlier this offseason that Tom Brady could replace Jimmy Garoppolo in San Francisco, it seems fans might have to put up with talks about the next possible replacement for Garoppolo.
That’s what analyst Domonique Foxworth, along with ESPN personality Stephen A. Smith and Tim Hasselbeck, discussed during the Monday episode of ESPN. First take. Molly Qerim asked where they’d like to see the Packers’ quarterback end her career, if not at Green Bay.
Smith is so fond of Rodgers that he said the quarterback could start anywhere, except for the Kansas City Chiefs, home of current Super Bowl MVP Patrick Mahomes, or teams that have their future quarterbacks, like the Baltimore Ravens with Lamar Jackson.
That list apparently doesn’t include the 49ers.
“I know that San Francisco has Jimmy Garoppolo, but that’s a situation where I think Aaron Rodgers, given his history in California and the Bay Area, San Francisco could use Aaron Rodgers,” Foxworth said. “He is not missing those places, those passes that Garoppolo missed. I think Aaron Rodgers in San Francisco is a match made in heaven.”
Smith clearly agreed.
“Let me go one step further,” began a passionate Smith. “If Aaron Rodgers was the quarterback in the Super Bowl instead of Jimmy Garoppolo, the San Francisco 49ers are the champions right now. They are the champions right now. With those weapons, with Aaron Rodgers? They are the champions.”
As the Niners Faithful know, Garoppolo and 49ers hit Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers in the NFC Championship Game with the sum of 285 rushing yards combined on the way to a disproportionate 37-20 victory and a spot in the Super Bowl. Garoppolo, however, had just 77 yards passing on eight attempts in the game, as Shanahan relied on the running game to punch the team’s ticket to Florida.
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