Jimmy Garoppolo: 5 moves the 49ers can make to help their quarterback in 2018
By Chris Wilson
Sign a big-bodied red-zone target
Jimmy Garoppolo had an amazing first season in San Francisco, but his season would have been even better if the 49ers were more efficient in the red zone. As reliable as kicker Robbie Gould was in 2017, the Niners need to convert more field-goal attempts into touchdowns in 2018.
Penalties and mistakes were partially to blame for the 49ers’ red-zone problems last season, but so was their lack of a big target in the red zone. In 2017, only two of the team’s wide receivers were over 6-feet tall — Kendrick Bourne, a rookie, and Louis Murphy, who caught just eight balls all year.
And since Garçon has never scored more than six touchdowns in a season, the 49ers need to add a big end-zone threat to the roster. This threat could potentially come in the form of a receiver, like the 6-foot-3 Robinson.
The 49ers could also opt to sign a tight end — a definite position of need — in free agency, like the Cincinnati Bengals’ Tyler Eifert, who scored 13 touchdowns in 2015 before injuries derailed his past two seasons.