49ers Who Is?’ series: Jimmy Garoppolo to break out in 2020
By Peter Panacy
49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo was good in 2019, yet he could stand to get even better in 2020.
By nearly all accounts, San Francisco 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo had a great season in 2019.
For starters, in what was Jimmy G’s first full year as a starter in his career, he tossed 3,978 yards, which ranked fourth best in a single season in franchise history. Garoppolo’s 69.1 percent completion percentage was tied for fourth in 2019, too, while his 102.0 passer rating ranked eighth among all qualifiers.
Yet for whatever the reasons, many a national circle thinks Garoppolo isn’t the answer for San Francisco. Perhaps those critics looked at the quarterback’s meltdown late in Super Bowl LIV against the Kansas City Chiefs. Or they thought Garoppolo not passing much at all in the two playoff games leading up to the Super Bowl was indication enough he wasn’t worthwhile.
Still, the Niners wouldn’t have gotten to the Super Bowl without Garoppolo. It’s foolish to question that, especially considering he was tied among leaders with four fourth-quarter comebacks in 2019:
| Year | Age | Tm | No. | G | GS | QBrec | Cmp | Att | Cmp% | Yds | TD | Int | Y/A | Y/G | Rate | Sk | 4QC | GWD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 23 | NWE | 10 | 6 | 0 | 19 | 27 | 70.4 | 182 | 1 | 0 | 6.7 | 30.3 | 101.2 | 5 | |||
| 2015 | 24 | NWE | 10 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 25.0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 1.5 | 1.2 | 39.6 | 0 | |||
| 2016 | 25 | NWE | 10 | 6 | 2 | 2-0-0 | 43 | 63 | 68.3 | 502 | 4 | 0 | 8.0 | 83.7 | 113.3 | 3 | 1 | 1 |
| 2017 | 26 | SFO | 10 | 6 | 5 | 5-0-0 | 120 | 178 | 67.4 | 1560 | 7 | 5 | 8.8 | 260.0 | 96.2 | 8 | 2 | 2 |
| 2018 | 27 | SFO | 10 | 3 | 3 | 1-2-0 | 53 | 89 | 59.6 | 718 | 5 | 3 | 8.1 | 239.3 | 90.0 | 13 | ||
| 2019 | 28 | SFO | 10 | 16 | 16 | 13-3-0 | 329 | 476 | 69.1 | 3978 | 27 | 13 | 8.4 | 248.6 | 102.0 | 36 | 4 | 4 |
| Care | Care | 42 | 26 | 21-5-0 | 565 | 837 | 67.5 | 6946 | 44 | 21 | 8.3 | 165.4 | 100.0 | 65 | 7 | 7 | ||
| 3 yr | 3 yr | NWE | 17 | 2 | 2-0-0 | 63 | 94 | 67.0 | 690 | 5 | 0 | 7.3 | 40.6 | 106.2 | 8 | 1 | 1 | |
| 3 yr | 3 yr | SFO | 25 | 24 | 19-5-0 | 502 | 743 | 67.6 | 6256 | 39 | 21 | 8.4 | 250.2 | 99.2 | 57 | 6 | 6 |
Provided by Pro-Football-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 6/24/2020.
Considering just how narrow San Francisco’s hold on the No. 1 seed in the NFC was, any one of those fourth-quarter comebacks not going Garoppolo’s way could have been significantly detrimental.
Despite all this, Garoppolo wasn’t perfect. His 13 interceptions thrown created a 2.7 interception percentage, which was seventh worst in the league last year. None of the bottom 10 in this category made the playoffs last year, and it’s reasonable to assume the Niners will need Garoppolo to cut down on this in a big way if San Francisco hopes to reach the Super Bowl again once 2020 is said and done.
There are reasons to believe he can, which is the subject matter of Niner Noise’s latest “Who Is?” installment on 49ers players this season.