Jimmy Garoppolo: All that’s left is to prove himself to 49ers

The San Francisco 49ers named quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo their starter for this Sunday’s game at the Chicago Bears. The only thing Garoppolo has left to do is prove himself.

San Francisco 49ers starting quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo’s NFL career began on May 9, 2014.

On this day in NFL draft history, the New England Patriots made Garoppolo the No. 62 overall pick. As a result of their selection, the Patriots became armed with some trade ammunition. Fast forward three-plus years and the club finally cashed in. But before taking a look at the 49ers’ trade-deadline masterpiece, let’s look at Garoppolo’s time in New England.

In the preseason, Garoppolo played in 13 games getting five starts, while completing 185-of-273 passes for 2,041 yards, 11 touchdowns and four interceptions. Garoppolo also took 17 sacks. These numbers don’t seem great but there is a clear year-to-year progression.

During the 2014 preseason, Garoppolo completed only 58 percent of his 79 total passes:

In years two, three and four, those numbers jumped to 76.2, 66.7 and 69.8, respectively. Garoppolo also made more starts in 2016 and 2017 than in the prior two seasons:

Garoppolo also started two well-documented games to begin the 2016 season. While New England Patriots starting quarterback Tom Brady served a four-game suspension, Garoppolo went 42-of-57 for 496 yards and four touchdowns. He was only sacked twice and didn’t throw any interceptions.

Also, against the Miami Dolphins in Week 2, Garoppolo had his three touchdown passes thrown before the half. Unfortunately, Garoppolo suffered a shoulder injury and wouldn’t start another game that year.

Jimmy Garoppolo arrives with the 49ers

Knowing all the previous information, 49ers general manager John Lynch decided to make a deal with the devil. The 49ers trade-deadline masterpiece included their own 2018 second-round pick in exchange for the Patriots’ three-year pro. A new era in 49ers football had begun.

Well, not quite.

Fans and media alike awaited the new quarterback’s debut anxiously. But 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan was in “hurry-up-and-wait” mode with his newest pupil.

“He’s coming along. It’s something that, in my opinion, he won’t be totally comfortable with it until next year,” Shanahan said Friday during a radio hit on KNBR.

Shanahan had been wanting a chance to coach Garoppolo since 2014 when he was a member of the Cleveland Browns coaching staff. In fact, Shanahan liked Garoppolo behind only Derek Carr in the 2014 NFL Draft. Now that Shanahan has his man, the 49ers can truly begin and end the rebuilding process.

After three-and-a-half weeks passed, the 49ers finally named Garoppolo their starting quarterback for Week 13’s game at the Chicago Bears. Rookie starter C.J. Beathard was injured with 1:07 remaining in quarter four of Week 12’s home tilt against the division rival Seattle Seahawks.

But that isn’t the main reason Shanahan turned to his new signal-caller on Tuesday. Garoppolo was ready despite Shanahan’s resistance.

“Those plays have nothing to do with anything. That’s just running around and made a great play, but those have no bearing on it at all,” he said.

In the final 1:07, Garoppolo went 2-of-2 for 18 yards and a touchdown. Our own Rich Madrid broke the final throw down here:

Where are we now?

Today, Shanahan said Garoppolo is the 49ers future at quarterback:

Knowing Jimmy Garoppolo improved each preseason, played well in his two career starts and is endorsed by Shanahan should be enough. But Garoppolo must still show it over the 49ers’ next five games and then over a 16-game season. His only true question is durability, thanks to his shoulder injury against Miami last season.

Next: 2018 NFL Draft: Why the 49ers need to select Notre Dame OG Quenton Nelson

If you don’t think he’ll show enough, I encourage you to YouTube his highlights like I did. Watch the progression. You’ll fall in love for sure.