Scott Ostler: Getting Sherman is latest example that 49ers are contenders.
Thank you, Jimmy G. If 49ers fans are happy that their team landed free agent Richard Sherman, they can tip their collective cap to Jimmy Garoppolo.
Sherman, set free by the Seattle Seahawks and attracting the interest of at least five teams, said he wanted to sign with a championshipcaliber club. Had Garoppolo not led the 49ers to that zombie-apocalypse 5-0 finish last season, meeting with the 49ers would have been lower on Sherman’s to-do list than sending a fruit basket to Michael Crabtree.
Don’t buy Super Bowl tickets just yet. Garoppolo might turn out to be the flashiest flash-in-the pan in history, and Sherman
might turn out to be a brokendown windbag.
But let’s assume the other way, for the heck of it. If Garoppolo is as real as he looked last season, and if Sherman can rehab himself back to his old physical self, the 49ers will have the hottest/coolest yin/ yang combo in the NFL.
Yin-yang is a Chinese concept, the interaction of two seemingly opposite and contrasting forces to form a dynamic, destiny-shaping system.
Sherman is the fiery kid straight outta Compton, by way of Stanford (and Seattle), with a chip on his shoulder. Garoppolo is the smiling lad from the Chicago suburbs who could give hair and hipster tips to Fonzie.
Seriously, this could be a killer combo, the leaders of your offense and defense. Brings back memories of two fellows named Steve Young and Deion Sanders.
For 49ers fans, the problem will be suppressing the gag reflex upon seeing Sherman in a 49ers uniform. Like an LSD flashback, the mental images of Sherman eating turkey legs at midfield on Thanksgiving, of batting down a pass to Crabtree in the end zone, will be hard to shake.
Sherman is a classic villain, because his anger and contempt seem real, not something cute and contrived for the wrestling fans. It’s even possible that the reason Jim Harbaugh had Colin Kaepernick keep trying to beat Sherman in the end zone in that 2013 NFC Championship Game was because of the deep grudge between Harbaugh and his former Stanford star.
For the players, there won’t be much emotional trauma involved in welcoming Sherman. Most of the 49ers whom Sherman taunted and haunted are gone, and the ones who remain are smart enough to take a pragmatic view of their new cornerback.
Joe Staley, probably the most 49er 49er and one of the few remaining 49ers who have been victimized by Sherman, tweeted his greeting: “As much as I disliked playing against him for years, I know I will love being teammates with him. Pumped to have @RSherman_25 as a teammate!!”
How much does Sherman have left? As he prepared to test the free agent market, Sherman tweeted his stats. Since 2011 he is the NFL’s No. 1 defensive back in interceptions, passes defensed, completions allowed and passer rating allowed.
Impressive. However, all of next season’s regular-season games will be played in 2018, not 2012 or ’13. So those old stats are as stale as the stuffing from that 2014 turkey chow down at Levi’s.
Sherman tore his right Achilles in November. That wouldn’t be a worry if he was the long snapper, but a cornerback needs two healthy legs. He also underwent surgery this year to remove bone spurs from his left ankle. So if he can’t play cornerback, he could run for president.
But old-guy comebacks are the latest fad. Tiger Woods looks like he can return to relevance in golf despite undergoing lower lumbar fusion, which is not only a dangerous surgery, but my favorite form of Latin music.
In some ways, Sherman is an odd fit with the 49ers. Not only is Garoppolo a laid-back kind of guy, the new coach and general manager, Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch, are also quiet, even-keel types.
Sherman is not. He’s got opinions, about himself and opponents and world affairs, and he likes to express them.
Sherman didn’t take a knee with the national anthem kneelers, but he very publicly supported them. At one midweek news conference in 2016, Sherman read a long statement in support of the kneelers, saying, “It’s not right for people to get killed in the streets.”
It’s likely that Shanahan and Lynch are not fans of the protests, so it will be interesting to see what happens if the protests become a major issue again next season and Sherman weighs in, in his subtle way.
But that will be a sideshow to the circus. If Sherman can play pass defense like he did in the old days, the 49ers stole themselves another superstar.
Jimmy, meet Richard. Richard, Jimmy. Go make some destiny.