The 49ers and Chiefs landed their star quarterbacks thanks to a chain of events that all began with Colin Kaepernick's breakout season in 2012
- The Kansas City Chiefs landed Patrick Mahomes, and the San Francisco 49ers landed Jimmy Garoppolo thanks to a series of connected events.
- The events began with Colin Kaepernick replacing Alex Smith as the 49ers quarterback in 2012, leading the 49ers to trade Smith to the Chiefs the next offseason.
- Kaepernick and Smith's time with the 49ers and Chiefs ran their courses, leading both teams to look for new quarterbacks.
- The Chiefs drafted Mahomes in 2017 - after the 49ers passed on him - to eventually replace Smith.
- Kaepernick left the 49ers after the hiring of Kyle Shanahan, whose relationship with Bill Belichick helped the Niners trade for Jimmy Garoppolo.
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Super Bowl 2020 will feature two young quarterbacks squaring off in Patrick Mahomes and Jimmy Garoppolo.
Both players have changed the trajectories of their franchises in a short time. Mahomes won MVP in his first season as a starter and has taken the Kansas City Chiefs to a new level. The acquisition of Garoppolo in a trade with the New England Patriots gave the San Francisco 49ers a young quarterback to build around.
These two franchise quarterbacks and their teams are intertwined. One could argue that both franchises would not be in their current situations if not for the emergence of another quarterback seven years ago: Colin Kaepernick.
Here's how a series of events led both of this year's Super Bowl quarterbacks to land with their teams.
Colin Kaepernick breaks out with the 49ers after Alex Smith gets concussed in 2012
However, early in Week 10, Smith suffered a concussion against the St. Louis Rams. Backup quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who to that point was used as a gadget player, stepped in and led the 49ers to a win.
The team wouldn't look back, keeping Kaepernick as the starter. He went 5-2 the rest of the season, then led them to the Super Bowl.
"I feel like the only thing I did to lose my job was get a concussion," Smith said at the time.
The 49ers trade Smith ... to the Chiefs
In March of 2013, one month after losing the Super Bowl to the Baltimore Ravens, the 49ers traded Smith to the Chiefs in exchange for a second-round pick and conditional 2014 pick.
Two months earlier, the Chiefs hired head coach Andy Reid. He got his quarterback in Smith, who had been leading the NFL in completion percentage before his concussion in 2012.
The 49ers hire Kyle Shanahan as head coach in 2017
Interestingly, the 49ers were interested in Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, but he pulled his name from consideration after the interview.
The hiring of Shanahan would pay off for the 49ers months later.
The 49ers move on from Kaepernick
After a 12-4 season and NFC Championship appearance in 2013, things went downhill for Kaepernick and the 49ers. From 2014-2016, Kaepernick struggled with injuries, and defenses adjusted to his dual-threat style. The 49ers went 5-11 in 2015. Kaepernick began 2016 behind Blaine Gabbert, then re-assumed the starting job, but did not perform particularly well as the team went 1-10 with him as the starter.
Kaepernick has still not been signed by a team since.
The Chiefs draft Patrick Mahomes in 2017
More importantly, the 49ers and Bears did not draft Mahomes.
The 49ers had the second pick in the 2017 draft and no quarterback. They ended up trading it to the Chicago Bears - who drafted Mitchell Trubisky - in exchange for the third pick in the draft, third- and fourth-round picks, and a 2018 third-round pick.
"I didn't look into [Mahomes], obviously, as much as I should have," Shanahan said. "We definitely looked into him and studied his tape. He was a freak and could make any throw.
"We had the second pick, and based on the intel, it didn't seem he would go that high."
The Chiefs, meanwhile, traded the 27th pick, a third-round pick, and 2018 first-round pick to the Buffalo Bills to move up to No. 10 to draft Mahomes, who they had been enamored with for a year.
The Washington Redskins apply a second franchise tag to Kirk Cousins for 2017
In July of 2017, the Washington Redskins made Cousins the first quarterback to play two consecutive seasons under the franchise tag after the two sides failed to agree on an extension.
The deal paid Cousins $23.9 million and set him up to leave Washington in 2018.
Four months earlier, it was reported that Cousins had told people close to him that he would play for the 49ers. Cousins worked with Kyle Shanahan in Washington, and Shanahan and 49ers GM John Lynch were reportedly interested in signing Cousins once he became available. However, many in the NFL world thought the 49ers would wait until free agency to get Cousins, rather than trading assets for him.
The 49ers went into the season with Brian Hoyer and rookie C.J. Beathard at quarterback.
Bill Belichick does a favor for his quarterback and his friend
Belichick and Shanahan developed a relationship after the 2106 Super Bowl, in which Belichick's Patriots beat Shanahan's Falcons. Shanahan and Belichick reportedly spoke at the 2017 NFL Combine about that game and coaching, with Shanahan earning Belichick's respect.
Seven months later, Belichick called Shanahan and offered Jimmy Garoppolo for a second-round pick. The 49ers accepted.
It's been widely reported that Belichick didn't seek better offers for Garoppolo, instead, sending the quarterback to a place he could thrive.
The Chiefs trade Smith to the Washington Redskins and usher in the Mahomes era
Despite a career year in 2017, the Chiefs felt they had reached their ceiling with Smith. The team had never advanced beyond the divisional round in the playoffs.
The traded welcomed in the Mahomes era.
Mahomes and Garoppolo both became full-time starters in 2018, though Garoppolo missed 13 games with a torn ACL. Two years later, they're both in the Super Bowl.
Could it have happened without Kaepernick replacing Smith seven years ago?
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