Jimmy Garoppolo: The one thing the 49ers quarterback has to improve on

San Francisco 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo just signed the most lucrative deal in NFL history. Niner Noise looks at the one area Garoppolo has to improve on so he can prove that he’s worth the money.

First of all, I think San Francisco 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo is worth every penny of his five-year, $137.5 million deal.

I actually think that the contract was a bargain despite being such a huge deal.

Fellow Niner Noise writer Rich Madrid summed it up pretty well in this tweet:

I think that “Jimbo Slice,” as Patriots wide receiver Julian Edelman called Garoppolo, is already one of the best quarterbacks in the league. I also think that especially by playing in a Kyle Shanahan offense, Garoppolo has the most upside out of all of them.

However, there was one very noticeable flaw in his play last season. And it’s a flaw that Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers and all the top five quarterbacks don’t have.

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And that’s throwing the deep ball.

According to Pro Football Focus, Garoppolo completed just one deep pass out of 12 attempts. That’s a stunningly bad 8.3 percent completion rate.

I didn’t even need to go on PFF to look at how poor Garoppolo was at throwing the deep ball. Whenever Garoppolo took a shot downfield, it was either overthrown or underthrown.

However, I am definitely not trying to be a pessimist here who’s only trying to get clicks — I’m looking at you, Grant Cohn. Yes, Garoppolo’s inaccuracy on deep passes were concerning, but you always have to look at the context of the situation.

The matter of the fact is Garoppolo barely had any time to learn the ultra-complex Shanahan playbook after being traded in the middle of the season. It took Matt Ryan, a seasoned NFL veteran, over a year to master it!

The limited time Garoppolo had to practice with the team before suiting up also affected his chemistry with his receivers. The deep ball is the hardest pass to perfect, and in order for it to work, there has to be this mutual connection between the quarterback and receiver. Lack of chemistry between the two can result in miscommunication and mistiming.

So am I worried about Garoppolo’s deep-ball accuracy heading into the 2018 season? A little bit, yeah. But I believe that with a full offseason of practicing with his receivers and establishing a true bond with them will fix this problem.

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And if he does fix it, I have no doubt Garoppolo will become the new Brady. The new Rodgers. The new Joe Montana. And on the way to cementing his place as one of the greats, Garoppolo will win a couple of Lombardi Trophies — or more —  to bring back to San Francisco.