NFL Trade Rumors: Insider believes Steelers remain prime destination for Jimmy Garoppolo 

Jimmy Garoppolo came into 2021 fighting off Trey Lance. Not many expected him to survive the season. However, 17 games and multiple playoff wins later, the quarterback is still technically the starter heading into 2022.

The San Francisco 49ers now have Trey Lance burning a hole in their pocket and are thinking about moving the starter to make room.

NFL insider Peter King has listed his preferred destination for the quarterback. Buried deep in his lineup article was a recommendation for the Steelers to make a move for Garoppolo.

King listed potential compensation for the quarterback to be a 2023 second-round pick that "would become a first if Garoppolo is active for 15 or more games next fall."

Is this a fair price for Jimmy Garoppolo?

San Francisco 49ers v Seattle Seahawks

This would typically be a condition put in place by quarterbacks with a potentially low ceiling. However, this could be done to guard against the quarterback's checkered history with injuries.

Also, if there was an issue with the quarterback getting injured, the team would, therefore, be able to keep their first-round pick to draft a quarterback in 2023.

However, this does open up the possibility of the Steelers benching Garoppolo late in the year if things do not go well to save the first-round pick. This, of course, would rub the 49ers the wrong way, as they would see right through the scheme.

To guard against this, the 49ers would need to push to move the minimum game requirement down to about eight weeks.

The Steelers, staring quarterback purgatory in the face, would likely still have no choice but to agree to the trade.

Also, a first-round or second-round pick seems like a bargain for a quarterback who played in a Super Bowl three seasons ago. Of course, it's not like he made the Super Bowl on a fluke and hasn't done anything before or since.

In his last two full seasons, he's made the Super Bowl and the NFC championship game.

The Steelers haven't made it that deep into the playoffs since 2016. Furthermore, one has to go back to 2010 to find two seasons in which the Steelers made it to the conference championship game.

In a season that concluded with the Steelers losing Ben Roethlisberger, there are still opportunities to effectively tread water or potentially improve. However, the chances are dwindling after Aaron Rodgers returned to the Packers and Russell Wilson was traded to Denver.

Garoppolo and Deshaun Watson could be the team's final chances to get a ready-made solution at quarterback. Will the team pull the trigger?