The 49ers have already gone back to the reunion well more than once, and that’s what makes this latest idea so strange - and so perfectly on brand for a team that keeps circling back to familiar names.
San Francisco first brought linebacker Dre Greenlaw back into the fold, then re-signed wide receiver Deebo Samuel. After that, the team pulled off a headline-grabbing trade with the Indianapolis Colts for Pro Bowl defensive tackle DeForest Buckner ahead of the NFL trade deadline.
That alone would feel like enough nostalgia for one season. But Sports Illustrated’s Conor Orr took the concept a step further in a set of dream deadline proposals, and his version has the 49ers doing something even more unexpected: moving backup quarterback Mac Jones and then bringing back Jimmy Garoppolo.
Jones wasn’t one of the louder names near the deadline, even though he drew plenty of trade buzz last offseason after his 2025 success. A real market never fully formed for him, but the situation around the league has shifted enough to keep him in the conversation.
Orr ties the idea to the Philadelphia Eagles, who lost quarterback Jalen Hurts to a scary medical situation, blood clots, and suggests Jones as a possible fit if Philly no longer views Hurts as part of its long-term plan.
Jones will turn 29 before the start of next season. He’ll need a raise over the two-year, $8.5 million contract he’s currently operating under, but Jones’s expertise in the Kyle Shanahan offense makes him an easier pair with a new prospective play-caller, or as a partner for [Sean] Mannion, who coached in the Shanahan-adjacent Matt LaFleur system.
That would leave San Francisco with a hole behind Brock Purdy, and Orr fills it with a name that will get 49ers fans talking for all the right and wrong reasons. His solution is Garoppolo.
This trade, of course, would not occur if the 49ers did not have a backup en route. While this part isn’t a trade, per se, it involves Garoppolo coming back to his former home to backstop Brock Purdy.
The 49ers have legitimate title aspirations after starting the season on one of the league’s longest winning streaks and Shanahan enjoyed above replacement-level play from Jones when Purdy was injured last season. Given that he’s needed to play multiple quarterbacks in every season as 49ers head coach, Shanahan would not part ways with an incredible bargain like Jones if he didn’t have someone able to run his system.
Of course, that’s where the fantasy starts to run into reality. Garoppolo’s exit from San Francisco after 2022 wasn’t exactly friendly, and he spent the years that followed taking several shots at his old team as his own career slid downhill.
There were also rumors last offseason that Garoppolo was thinking about retirement, though nothing came of that, and he remained a free agent deep into 2026.
Both sides would need to repair plenty before anything like that could happen, and money has a way of making old problems feel smaller.
Even so, it’s tough to picture either Jimmy G or the 49ers actually wanting to make it happen. That reunion probably lives more in the realm of fun than reality. But after Buckner, Greenlaw, and Samuel, it’s easy enough to see why the idea got at least a second look.
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