49ers’ 2018 ‘Who Is?’ series: Quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo
By Peter Panacy
Why Jimmy Garoppolo Regresses
No, impossible. Jimmy Garoppolo won’t regress. He’ll merely ride off into the sunset after the 49ers win the next 10 Super Bowls.
OK, hype can be hard to avoid. And the Niners, plus their fans, have all the reason to be excited now. Yet it’s just as plausible — not quite possible — Garoppolo doesn’t quite live up to the expectation level many of us have.
And for a primer, another GOAT, Joe Montana, thinks the hype should die down a bit:
There’s the obvious. Garoppolo has seven starts to his credit, just five with the 49ers. And like many first-look athletes breaking out, there’s the concern the rest of the league will adjust and exploit his weaknesses.
Right now, those weaknesses would appear to be in the long passing game.
PFF explained this too:
"Of his 12 deepest passes thrown, he completed only one. And through five games, he only notched three completions targeted farther than 20 yards down the field. That extrapolates out to only 10 deep completions over the course of a full season – an unsustainably low rate we’ve never seen for a productive quarterback over 16 games."
In contrast, Ryan (roughly middle of the pack in this category, per PFF) had a deep-ball completion percentage of 32.8 percent and a deep passer rating of 79.0.
PFF also pointed out how Garoppolo’s arm strength wasn’t one of his, well.. strengths. And there’s no indication it will get stronger.
Garoppolo is 26 years old. Not some second-year pro still developing his body.
If Shanahan’s offense winds up finding itself calling deeper plays, or in more long-yardage situations, Garoppolo’s game could suffer. This isn’t going to be likely, of course. But relying on Garoppolo to deliver the deep ball isn’t the approach here.