San Francisco 49ers: Creating the ideal starting lineup for 2018
By Peter Panacy
Quarterback
Jimmy Garoppolo
Well, yeah. You knew this.
It’s a shame we weren’t able to witness a full season of Jimmy Garoppolo in Kyle Shanahan’s offense. After all, Jimmy G was exceptionally effective on a dialed-back version of it late in 2017. And with a better offensive line to protect him, it wouldn’t have been a shock to see Garoppolo put up some striking numbers over the latter two-thirds of 2018.
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Factor this in, though — Garoppolo will at least have this season to master the mental elements of Shanahan’s system.
Now, put this all together.
Garoppolo would have over a full year’s work within the offense. And his ACL injury was early enough to put him on pace to return by OTAs in 2019. George Kittle will likely be one of the more heralded tight ends in the league by next season. Dante Pettis’ development moves along and, provided the wide receivers stay healthy, Garoppolo will have a nice set of pass catchers with which to work.
Oh, and that offensive line is looking pretty good. And Bell makes this offense the most well-rounded it’s been in years.
5 49ers who should see increased roles over the rest of 2018. dark. Next
We can only hope San Francisco’s 2019 plans wind up looking something like this. But hope is good, right?