QB San Francisco 49ers: Watson, Darnold and Garoppolo bets

The new NFL league year starts in just over a month, but the excitement is already there before the off-season.

This year’s quarterback market is unprecedented, with several starters from 2020 who may be wearing a different uniform next season. The Detroit Lions have already sent Matthew Stafford to the Los Angeles Rams for Jared Goff and rides. We could also see some more significant trades with more quarterbacks in the coming months.

Deshaun Watson remains the best of the bunch. The 25-year-old has officially filed for a trade with the Houston Texans, who are adamant they won’t be trading Watson anytime soon. Watson has a trade ban, so we could see a long standoff between the two sides.

The New York Jets and new head coach Robert Saleh have the No. 2 overall pick in this year’s NFL Draft and can go on as 2018’s third overall pick, Sam Darnold.

San Francisco appears to be content with current starter Jimmy Garoppolo, but has been linked to pretty much every quarterback on the market since the end of the season.

The bet lines for where some QBs will land this off-season, the Niners have listed as options.

Here are where oddsmakers have the 49ers in the running for Watson (courtesy of Bovada):

Texans +200
PreDolphins and Jets +350
Panthers +400
49ers +500
Broncos +800
Raiders and Patriots +1400

For Darnold (thanks to Design kings

Jets +150
Foals +400
Panthers and Texans +500
Broncos +1000
49ers and WFT +1100
Bears +1200
Saints and Steelers +1 400

Bovada also has chances for where Russell Wilson, Dak Prescott and Carson Wentz will play in 2021.

Wilson – who expressed his displeasure with the Seahawks’ ability to protect him on the field – is a distance to move. Bovada lets him stay in Seattle as the most likely outcome and has San Francisco listed at +2200.

Prescott has been in an impasse with the Dallas Cowboys over his contract situation for over a year. Bovada has it at -1000 to re-sign with the Cowboys while the Niners come in at +2000. The 49ers are not on the list of the teams that have the best chances of landing Wentz.

The most likely scenario is that Garoppolo will be the starter in 2021. BetMGM has chances available as to where Jimmy G will play next season, and it’s no surprise that San Francisco is the favorite:

49ers (-400)
Patriots (+450)
Vikings (+750)
Broncos (+800)
Bears (+800)
Foals (+1000)
Texans (+1100)

Let’s not forget that oddsmakers had the 49ers as the favorites to land Stafford and had the Rams well down on the list prior to the trade:

It would take a tremendous effort to get Watson out of Houston, while Darnold will not yield that much in any transaction. NBC Bay Area’s Matt Maiocco wrote an interesting piece on why no current player on the Niners roster should be untouchable when it comes to landing a franchise QB.

Maiocco is well connected with the 49ers and says even Nick Bosa, George Kittle or Fred Warner shouldn’t be off limits. Chances are, one of them will have to be included in some high draft picks to bring in a talent like Watson.

From now on, the return of Garoppolo is rightly listed as a favorite. San Francisco will still be able to contend with all the high-end talent around it on the roster. We saw Jimmy G lead a healthy squad to a 13-3 finish in 2019 and within seven minutes of winning the Super Bowl.

But if John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan decide they’re willing to try and reach the asking price for Watson, it should make for an interesting few weeks.

What do you think would be a fair trade proposal to land Watson? Who would you be willing to part with Bosa, Kittle or Warner with, if it meant Watson would be the QB of the 49ers for the next decade?