49ERS STAND BY QUARTERBACK
49ers coach Kyle Shanahan recently gave one of his strongest endorsements of Jimmy Garoppolo yet when asked about the quarterback’s offseason. He was asked how he responded to the team at least considering the idea of signing Tom Brady in free agency.
“When you have to talk to Jimmy about one of the best quarterbacks of all time being available, I know Jimmy has a goal to be that,” Shanahan said last week. “I know Jimmy. I believe Jimmy has the ability to be that and that’s what both of us are going for.”
It’s no surprise Shanahan would shower his quarterback with praise after an offseason where the open discussion of whether the 49ers would add Brady dominated a few news cycles.
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Garoppolo struggled in the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl and Brady, after all, has one of the most expansive championship resumes in sports history, let alone the NFL, and some believe upgrading at quarterback could be the push the team needs to win a Super Bowl.
Shanahan decided to stick with the 28-year-old Garoppolo for the foreseeable future rather than going with Brady, who will turn 43 in August, for the next season or two. The risk for Shanahan is betting his team’s championship window on Garoppolo’s right arm while a six-time Super Bowl champ, and four-time Super Bowl MVP, was an alternative.
Garoppolo, of course, had a strong season in 2019. It marked the first time he started more than five regular season games and he played well enough to help the 49ers go 13-3 and earn the No. 1 seed in the NFC. The 49ers reached the Super Bowl after outscoring the Vikings and Packers 64-30 combined in two playoff blowouts before succumbing to Patrick Mahomes in Miami.
But questions popped up about Shanahan’s confidence in Garoppolo in the playoffs. After a bad interception late in the first half against Minnesota, Shanahan dialed up 71 runs to just 14 Garoppolo passes in