3 biggest concerns facing Jimmy Garoppolo, 49ers in 2020

No. 3: A Trend for Throwing Interceptions

One has to take nearly all of Jimmy Garoppolo’s stat lines from 2019 with a grain of salt. After all, the year was his first as a full-time starter, making it through the entirety of the regular season. And it’s easy to overlook he’s started just 26 games at the pro level.

Still, there have been tendencies of concern for Garoppolo and the 49ers, and few would stand out more than his propensity to throw some ill-advised balls.

Garoppolo’s second interception in the Super Bowl was forgivable. After all, the Niners were hitting desperation mode at that point. But a first-half turnover, which led to three Chiefs points, wasn’t a good look at all. And it resembled many of the questionable tosses, where it often looked as if he simply failed to see a defender in the intended area of his toss.

On the season, Garoppolo threw 13 interceptions, doing a good job of cutting down on the nearly one-per-game average he was going through during the first half of 2019. Those 13 picks tied him for eighth most, which isn’t great, but nowhere near as awful as the 30 thrown by Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Jameis Winston. Yet Garoppolo’s 2.7 interception percentage was tied for seventh worst, and that’s concerning.

Over his brief career, Garoppolo owns a 2.5 interception percentage, which typically ranks among the worst third tier among qualifying signal-callers in any given season.

Again, the sample size is relatively small. But there’s a good chance Garoppolo will be an interception-prone quarterback over the duration of his career.