49ers shouldn’t, wouldn’t move on from Jimmy Garoppolo
By Peter Panacy
Jimmy Garoppolo: Recognizing the Good with the Bad
Jimmy Garoppolo’s 69.2 passer rating in Super Bowl LIV makes him the worst-marked quarterback among all 49ers signal-callers in the big game.
But if one wants to criticize Garoppolo’s Super Bowl efforts, they also need to recognize and take measure of the things he did to help lead the Niners to the Super Bowl in the first place.
For much of the regular season, it wasn’t hard to find arguments against Garoppolo and the team’s willingness to trust him. Yet by looking solely at the numbers, those arguments are essentially put out the window.
Just look at some of his noteworthy stats:
- Completion percentage: 69.1 (fourth)
- Pass yards: 3,978 (12th)
- Pass touchdowns: 27 (fifth)
- Passer rating: 102.0 (eighth)
Let’s dive into the pass yards for a second. While being 12th on the list in 2019 doesn’t seem extra special, it’s important to note Kyle Shanahan’s offense was, and still is centered around the run game. And that number put Garoppolo into fourth place on the 49ers’ all-time single-season pass-yardage list, which isn’t bad either.
Garoppolo’s 102.0 passer rating in the regular season was also just 3.3 points shy of the quarterback who beat him in Super Bowl LIV, Patrick Mahomes, too.
Yes, Garoppolo did have 13 interceptions, which was tied for eighth most, and his 2.7 interception percentage was tied for seventh highest. He needs to work on chemistry with Shanahan this offseason to cut down on those moments. There were plenty of instances where he tossed a bone-headed interception, yet a good chunk of those numbers were influenced by passes bouncing off his intended receivers’ hands.
While Garoppolo’s 2019 numbers may not put him into the “elite” tier of quarterbacks, it’s hard to shake the idea he’s very, very good.
So, is that all worth his lucrative contract? That’s the reason why the 49ers would move on, right?
Not so fast.