Garoppolo has big task ahead with Raiders
FOR a long time, Jimmy Garoppolo and Derek Carr lived a parallel tortured existence with the bottom line.
Was Garoppolo responsible for the 49ers winning so many games during his tenure as a starter, or did his teammates and coaching staff carry him there?
Was Carr responsible for the Raiders losing so many games during his tenure as a starter, or did his teammates and coaching staff drag him there?
Now that Garoppolo has signed with the Raiders, we’ll begin to find out. One thing’s for sure: If Garoppolo can deliver 10-plus wins, we have our answer. The Raiders love to talk nostalgia and mystique, but the only mystery with the franchise over the past 28 years is how many losses were on the horizon, as the Raiders have finished over .500 just five times in that span.
Garoppolo gave the 49ers their due right out of the box and then looked to the future.
“I just want to thank the Yorks, thank the 49ers for everything that they’ve done,” Garoppolo said Friday. “It was awesome. I enjoyed it. A lot of ups and downs. It was a fun time. Turn the page now, it’s the next chapter in my life and can’t wait to get started in Vegas.”
If Garoppolo has any ill feelings about the way things ended — going from starter to reserve to starter again before sustaining a fractured foot — he is keeping those thoughts to himself after signing a three-year deal that could pay him as much as $72 million.
Garoppolo is an impressive presence and an easy guy to like. But this fan base will turn on Garoppolo in an instant if injuries, losses or both begin to pile up as they have so many other times since the mid-1990s.
Rich Gannon won three straight division titles and an MVP in the only sustained run of success the Raiders have seen since moving to Oakland in 1995, yet he was barely tolerated by a segment of the fan base that wanted an oldschool, Al Davis-style downfield thrower.
If there’s one thing Garoppolo is not, it’s an old-school, Al Davis-style downfield thrower. It will be dink, dunk and run after the catch with Davante Adams, Josh Jacobs, Jacobi Meyers and Hunter Renfrow.
“Whenever you’ve got skill position guys like that, the run after catch, I’m a big believer in that,” Garoppolo said. “You give them an accurate ball, if you’ve got the right guys … we seem to have the right guys here, just have to get working together.”
Carr was a little of everything for the Raiders. Sometimes too conservative, occasionally too bold. But mostly, Carr was durable. He sustained a fractured vertebra in his back once and missed one game. He left a Chargers game two years ago with a severe groin injury and played the next week.
In nine seasons, Carr missed two games en route to a 63-79 record before being benched, released and moving on to the New Orleans Saints. Garoppolo, meanwhile, missed 39 games in six seasons with the 49ers and had a 38-17 record.
More than a few Raiders fans are wondering how the Raiders would dump tight end Darren Waller after battling injuries for two years and then entrust the most important position on the team to Garoppolo and his injury history.
Garoppolo was a respected figure in the 49ers’ locker room and not because he forced the issue. Players gravitated toward him because of the way he went about his business without fanfare, and it will be the same thing in Las Vegas.
“I think it will happen naturally. I don’t want to force anything and be unauthentic,” Garoppolo said. “I just want to be myself, and it’s served me well in the past I think being hard-working, setting an example for the other guys, bringing everyone along and getting everyone on the same page — those are the little things that go a long way.”
After six seasons under Kyle Shanahan, Garoppolo is back with Josh Mcdaniels, who ran the offense in New England when he was with the Patriots.
Garoppolo went from the Patriots, who were a winning organization, to the 49ers, whom he helped establish as one. He looks forward to doing the heavy lifting with what has been a fairly consistent loser for a long time.
“Being in three different organizations, you compare and contrast, see what you like, see what you don’t like,” Garoppolo said. “I’m just trying to come here and bring a little bit of everything. Make this a family — I think that’s the first step in winning football games is everyone pushing in the right direction, and if we can do that, it’s a good start.”