All eyes are on Aaron Rodgers and Derek Carr as the two veteran quarterbacks decide their playing futures with plenty of interested suitors. However, with the NFL's free agency period right around the corner, San Francisco 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo has been linked to the Atlanta Falcons and Houston Texans by longtime ESPN insider Jeremy Fowler.

Calling the Falcons and Texans “natural fits” for Garoppolo, Fowler adds that Jimmy G will be “costly” as a free agent, desiring “a contract that measure(s) with his skillset and ability.”

“Jimmy Garoppolo is expected to be really number 3 in the pecking order behind Derek Carr and Aaron Rodgers in this quarterback carousel,” Fowler further reveals.

These last two seasons have not been ideal for Garoppolo from a job security standpoint, with the Niners opting to play Trey Lance over him to start the season and to play Brock Purdy over him at the end of the season. While his injury became the opening that allowed Purdy to step in, most starting quarterbacks are given their jobs back once they recover, almost no matter how well their injury replacement played.

That was not the case with San Francisco, a franchise clearly desiring a split with the Tulane product.

So far as his playing future is concerned, it appears more likely that he would wind up with Houston than Atlanta.

The Falcons have been linked to Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson, the 2019 NFL MVP. All that stands in the way of Jimmy G in Houston is Davis Mills, a quarterback coming off of a very disappointing season with the Texans.