The San Francisco 49ers are set to square off against the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday and they will see a familiar face on the sideline in quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo. Rams head coach Sean McVay gave Garoppolo a full-throated endorsement recently which can only make Niners fans laugh.
In a recent article by Mike Silver of The Athletic, he interviewed both Garoppolo and McVay. The Super Bowl-winning head coach had nothing but praise for Jimmy G, saying, "I’m hopeful that Matthew [Stafford] will play as long as he possibly can, but Jimmy is a guy that absolutely (could step in). I don’t think his days as a starting quarterback are done by any stretch, and I think he feels that way, too."
Now, 49ers fans got to see some of the best of Garoppolo as a starting quarterback. They also got to see him at his worst and see his flaws. He led the Niners to the Super Bowl in the 2019 season and also played in an NFC Championship game against the Rams although it was his deficiencies in that game, and season, that led the 49ers to move towards Trey Lance the following year.
We know how that all worked out and eventually led to Brock Purdy as the team’s franchise quarterback. But Garoppolo moved on to the Las Vegas Raiders where he got a chance as a starter and that did not go good at all. He started six games and went 3-3 but he did not play well at all and got benched.
He has landed with the Rams as a backup to Matthew Stafford and played in one game last season that the Rams rested Stafford in.
According to Garoppolo, he received interest from teams in the offseason who wanted him as a starter. One can only imagine which teams those were, but probably the only way Garoppolo would be serviceable as a starter is if he was in a well-run offense like the one McVay runs in LA or the one 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan runs.
One quote in particular from Garoppolo will make 49ers fans chuckle: “The biggest thing that I’m starting to notice now is the game planning. It’s almost like you can know what’s coming. As I’ve gotten older, that’s become easier and easier. I don’t want to say (I think) like a coach, but you’re around this so much that you start to think the same way as them."
This is pretty rich and would probably make Shanahan’s eyes roll out of his head if he read it. Garoppolo was not exactly known for his ability to read defenses or his high football IQ with the Niners so the fact that he is just now starting to realize you can read what opponents are doing and think like a coach on the field is pretty funny. But hey, better late than never.
This is probably why Shanahan was so exasperated with Garoppolo at times and why he has clearly been more comfortable with Brock Purdy and Mac Jones behind center.
McVay may think Jimmy G has a chance to be a starter again, but 49ers fans have seen the guy’s career progress and know that is probably just a pipe dream.