Jimmy Garoppolo Confuses NFL Fans and Media With Instagram Post About Leaving Patriots (UPDATE)

Jimmy Garoppolo seemed to indicate that he had been traded by the Patriots in an Instagram post that went up very early Friday morning.

Jimmy Garoppolo stands on the sideline.
USA Today Sports

Image via USA TODAY Sports/Mark J. Rebilas

Jimmy Garoppolo stands on the sideline.

UPDATED 3/10/17, 9:30 a.m. ET:

At approximately 9:30 a.m. ET on Friday morning, Jimmy Garoppolo finally got around to deleting his "Peace out Boston" Instagram post that started up so much trade speculation:

See original story below.

Did the Patriots decide to trade their backup quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo overnight without telling anyone about it? That’s what many NFL fans and members of the media were left to wonder early Friday morning when they woke up to find a bizarre Instagram post on Garoppolo’s verified account that indicated he might be on the move. The post featured a photo of Garoppolo holding the Lombardi Trophy after the Patriots’ Super Bowl win in February, and it included a caption that said: "So grateful for my time in New England. Peace out Boston."

NFL fans, especially those in the New England area, started freaking out immediately after seeing the post, which went up at around 4 a.m. ET. While the Patriots have already come out and said that they have no interest in parting ways with Garoppolo this offseason, the Browns have reportedly been very interested in working out a deal for him. And Cleveland has stockpiled so many draft picks in recent years that it wouldn’t necessarily come as a surprise to hear that the Patriots had agreed to trade Garoppolo in exchange for a handful of those picks. So many Pats fans believed Garoppolo might be headed to the Browns or another NFL team in a trade after seeing his IG post.

But shortly after Garoppolo’s IG post started sending shockwaves through the NFL world, reporters began chiming in on it on social media and talking about how they hadn’t heard about any potential Garoppolo trades that were in the works. And before long, the belief throughout the league was that Garoppolo’s IG had been hacked and that there was not a trade in the works. Many reporters referred to the IG post as a prank or hoax.

Spoke to someone close to Jimmy Garoppolo who had no knowledge of any trade and believes it's a hack. Alas, it's 5:26 am now & we're all up
Source close to Jimmy Garoppolo: Instagram post appears to be a "prank/hack."

Re: a possible trade, source says, "not to my knowledge."

And at around 7 a.m. ET on Friday, ESPN’s Adam Schefter—who has seemingly played a role in reporting every single NFL transaction made over the course of the last 24 hours—appeared to put the Garoppolo trade rumors to bed during an interview on the Boston radio show Kirk & Callahan. He said Garoppolo’s IG post is "not real," and he reiterated that the Patriots have no interest in trading Garoppolo at this time.

But the strangest part about the entire story is that, despite the frenzy his IG post caused, Garoppolo still hadn’t taken it down as of 8 a.m. ET on Friday morning. So what gives? Was he really hacked? Did one of his friends steal his phone and decide to mess with Pats fans' emotions? Or did Garoppolo himself put up the post as a joke? Whatever the case, everyone is waiting for him to wake up to provide some sort of explanation.

And until he does, the speculation surrounding Garoppolo's future with the Patriots is going to continue.

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