If Pats get Garoppolo, who plays QB for Niners?

So the New England Patriots would like to have Jimmy Garoppolo as their quarterback, according to a Boston journalist — as if any journalist knows what he’s writing or talking about — and that leaves us with one question.

Who would play quarterback for the 49ers, the team to which Garoppolo now is under contract?

It certainly won’t be Dak Prescott, who on Tuesday re-signed with the Dallas Cowboys for four years and a mere $160 million.

Or Russell Wilson, desperate to escape Seattle, which apparently no longer trusts in his capability but did not list the Niners among the teams he finds acceptable.

Or Aaron Rodgers, now that management at Green Bay has given him the ringing endorsement he deserves.

These are days of instability and outrageous dreams in the NFL, particularly when it comes to quarterbacks, whom we know — despite homilies to the contrary — are the most important guys in the offensive lineup.

Consider the Patriots with Tom Brady. Six Super Bowl victories. Consider the Patriots without Tom Brady. So awful that, if we believe Greg Bredard of the Boston Sports Journal, the Pats want Jimmy.

Who was drafted by them in 2014 with the idea of him eventually becoming Brady’s replacement; who was traded to the 49ers after a few games in 2017 when it became obvious Brady never would need a replacement as long as he was with New England; who led the Niners to the Super Bowl in 2019; who was out much of 2020 with a leg injury, bringing about demands for a change; who now is a target of the Patriots to fill the role for which he first was labeled, Brady’s successor. 

The only things certain at the moment are the Patriots, ineffective in 2020 with Cam Newton botching up the position, do not have a quarterback; and the 49ers, with two years remaining on Garoppolo’s five-year, $137.5 million contract, do have one.

Is it the one they prefer? Well, the Niners insist Garoppolo is their man. That means he is. Until he isn’t.

“Do I believe 49ers general manager John Lynch when he claims that Garoppolo will be his starter in 2021? Of course not,” NFL insider Michael Lombardi recently wrote in The Athletic.

“They are too active, too aggressive to run it back one more year with someone they don’t have complete trust in.”

The 49ers have called the Panthers about Teddy Bridgewater, according to The Athletic, another sign they’re looking for a new quarterback.

Two of the four teams in the Niners’ division, the NFC West, have either obtained a new quarterback for 2021 (the Rams trading for Matthew Stafford) or will need to obtain one (the Seahawks, mentioned above).

The Rams had Jared Goff, the overall No. 1 pick in the 2016 draft who led them to the Super Bowl in 2018. Such a wonderful future. Or so it seemed. A few bad plays, and, voila, Goff was sent to the Lions for Stafford — who has played in one Super Bowl fewer than Garoppolo. None.

And five fewer than Joe Montana, against whom everyone from now until forever any 49ers quarterback will be rated.

Joe often was hesitant to give opinions when he played, but now, out of the game, his status quite safe, he is more outspoken.

“You know the biggest question on everybody’s mind is Garoppolo, and can they keep him healthy,” Montana told Can Inman, the longtime Niners writer for the San Jose Mercury News.

“Obviously they’re a better team when he’s playing, but who knows what goes in those guys’ minds?”

What goes is to employ a quarterback who wins games, maybe directs his team to the Super Bowl.

As Garoppolo did two years ago. And as the Patriots are well aware.