Bleacher Report ranks 49ers’ Jimmy Garoppolo No. 13 among quarterbacks

The folks over at Bleacher Report’s NFL1000 series rank the San Francisco 49ers’ Jimmy Garoppolo the 13th best quarterback in the NFL heading into 2018. Do you agree?

San Francisco 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo is apparently the 13th best signal-caller heading into 2018. At least according to Mark Schofield and his team of scouts over at Bleacher Report’s NFL1000 series.

Schofield uses a specific grading system, which pays attention to accuracy, arm talent, operating under pressure, decision making and position value, accumulating the data into a score. That score is then measured up against the rest.

Ranking No. 13 might seem a bit of a snub to some. But let’s take a look at what he had to say first:

San Francisco 49ers

"Accuracy: 18/25Arm: 19/25Under Pressure: 16/20Decision-Making: 17/20Position Value: 10/10Overall Grade: 80/100After a few down seasons, the San Francisco 49ers have hope again, and it arrived in the form of Jimmy Garoppolo. He stepped into the starting lineup and won his first two starts with confidence, poise and toughness in the pocket and an ability to make high-velocity throws under duress. If the Niners can work out an extension with Garoppolo and add a few more offensive pieces, they might be a team to look out for in 2018."

For the record, BR1000 ranked the following QBs ahead of Garoppolo:

1. Tom Brady, Patriots
2. Aaron Rodgers, Packers
3. Russell Wilson, Seahawks
4. Drew Brees, Saints
5. Ben Roethlisberger, Steelers
6. Matthew Stafford, Lions
7. Carson Wentz, Eagles
8. Cam Newton, Panthers
9. Jared Goff, Rams
10. Case Keenum, Vikings
11. Matt Ryan, Falcons
12. Kirk Cousins, Redskins

Garoppolo is ranked ahead of the Los Angeles Chargers’ Philip Rivers and the Dallas Cowboys’ Dak Prescott (Nos. 14 and 15, respectively). And soon-to-be Washington Redskins QB Alex Smith, who led the league in passer rating in 2017 (104.7), was ranked 18th.

So is Garoppolo snubbed?

Quantifying the Stats and Analysis for Jimmy Garoppolo

There wasn’t enough data from Pro Football Focus to see where Garoppolo would have ranked, in terms of adjusted completion percentage (PFF’s metric to account for drops, throwaways, etc.).

Garoppolo’s 96.2 standard passer rating would have ranked ninth just behind Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, and the adjusted percentage would have seen a nice spike.

Still, we can look at how effective Garoppolo was while under pressure, and his completion percentage in these instances tells you about everything you need to know:

So, arguably, B/R’s 16 points out of a possible 20 in that area is a bit low. No other quarterback had a higher completion percentage than Garoppolo while facing pressure in 2017. It’s pretty clear he picked up on the ability to do so from his former teammate, Tom Brady.

Arm strength is a bit of a problem, though, as Garoppolo completed just three completions of 20-plus yards during his five-game stretch as a starter, per PFF.

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That mark makes sense, and one might argue his decision-making abilities took some slight hits with at least four of those five interceptions thrown over the same time.

Still, Garoppolo sits pretty high among the top quarterbacks heading into 2018. Some of the higher-ranked names don’t quite make sense, but we weren’t doing the scouting gruntwork.

With a full season starting under his belt, it will be interesting to see where B/R puts Garoppolo in this same evaluation entering 2019.

Next: How Alex Smith's new deal affects Jimmy Garoppolo contract talks

Also for the record, fellow 49ers quarterback C.J. Beathard ranked 36th.