It was stated during the game last night that the Pats couldn't reach a contract agreement with Garapallo so they traded him.
Clearly if you are Garapallo and you feel the time is now to start and to get a sizeable payday, you're not going to sign on the cheap just to sit behind Tom Brady for a few more seasons.
If you are NE, you can't possibly give Garapallo a big deal just to sit on the bench. Besides, you know he's wanting to start somewhere and his chance is coming this off season to go somewhere and do that.
But leave it to the Browns to just continue to sit on their hands and do nothing about the QB position when they could have offered NE the same had they inquired.
The Pats get a high draft pick and the Niners get to kick the tires on Garapallo the rest of the year. If he's what they hope he is, they sign him to a big deal. If not, they've wasted a 2nd round pick and they still have lots of picks left for the 2018 draft.
Back up QB is not that big a deal for the Pats. The fact is that if Tom Brady goes down for any length of time their Superbowl run is over. It's Tom Brady or bust.
This deal makes too much sense not to have happened.