215 in his 26 starts, but doubts linger about Garoppolo

Last season, Jimmy Garoppolo had the NFL’s eighthhighest interception rate, averaged 142.3 passing yards in three playoff games, had a 2.8 passer rating in the fourth quarter of a comefromahead Super Bowl loss and … oh, geez, please, could you shut up already?

That’s the general message — offered more politely — from former NFL quarterbacks who acknowledge that the 49ers QB has warts, but wonder this: Are people fretting because he’s yet to prove he’ll be an alltime great after 26 regularseason starts?

“He’s got things I’d like to see him do better,” said Hall of Famer Kurt Warner. “But just go back and look at Tom Brady in year four, or after he’d played in this many games. … It’s a process for all quarterbacks.”

“There’s rare Tom Bradys in the world — they come around once in a blue moon,” said former Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo, later adding his defense of Garoppolo: “You want to talk about how he didn’t get it done? Well, he took them to a Super Bowl. And he was really close. I think that’s pretty good playing, regardless of how people want to communicate about it.”

And former 49ers head coach Steve Mariucci also invoked the new Buccaneers QB with six Super Bowl wins, while offering an extra helping of exasperation.

“My god, the kid is 215 as a starter,” Mariucci said. “Twentyone and five. I think anybody would take that. Even Tom Brady.”

Funny they all should talk about Brady, right?

Head coach Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch did the same thing in the offseason when Brady, a Bay Area native, reportedly wanted to sign with the 49ers, his boyhood team.

Lynch and Shanahan explained they owed it to the organization to consider swapping out Garoppolo for one of the best players in NFL history.

That’s understandable. Still, if they are convinced Garoppolo, 28, is their longterm answer, why would decisionmakers known for taking a longterm view ponder replacing him with a 43yearold?

There are other questions about the 49ers’ commitment. Over the past year, the team has restructured the contracts of three highpriced players to create salary cap space, but hasn’t touched Garoppolo’s deal. That means they could trade or release him after the season and take just a $1.2 million deadcap hit.

In March, when Brady talk was swirling, NBC Sports Boston’s Tom Curran reported Shanahan liked his QB, but had “some reservations about Garoppolo’s ceiling and overall decisionmaking.” And Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer reported “there’s been perception in league circles that Jimmy Garoppolo is on the clock, because (Minnesota’s) Kirk Cousins is a free agent in 2021.”

Cousins signed a contract extension in March, ending speculation Shanahan could soon reunite with his former QB.

As for talk surrounding Garoppolo’s future with the 49ers, Romo, in effect, shrugged his shoulders. He said only the QBs such as Brady have job security that shields them from hysteria.

“There’s a few guys like that,” said Romo, a CBS analyst. “But everybody else, for the most part, you’re always going to be working to help your football team get better. If you don’t perform, it’s always going to be up for debate.

“I mean, if (the 49ers) lose the first four games of the year, his job, it’s no different than anybody’s. … His job is to go out, get better and improve. And, Jimmy, be better than last year. And guess what? He was really good last year.”

Last year, Garoppolo was the only QB to rank in the top five in touchdown passes (27), completion percentage (69.1) and yards per attempt (8.4). He tied for the NFL lead in fourthquarter comebacks (four), had the fourthmost passing yards (3,978) in franchise history and the seventhhighest passer rating (102.0) — all while returning from a torn ACL. “How many other guys out there are you going to take that are better than Jimmy Garoppolo?” said Warner, an NFL Network analyst. “There’s not many guys in our league that you would take over a young Jimmy Garoppolo based on what he’s done at this point. … He’s going to have to play a whole lot worse, and show me a whole lot more issues, before I think about moving on.

“You’ve got to give him a chance to mature and grow. And we can say that about everybody. (Dallas’) Dak Prescott is still growing. (Philadelphia’s) Carson Wentz. (The Rams’) Jared Goff. They’re all still growing into the position — they’re not finished products yet. But I’ve seen enough from Jimmy to say, ‘Hey, he needs time for us to see can he become that complete quarterback that some of these other greats have become.’ ”

The 49ers expect Garoppolo to make a jump in 2020. Lynch recently noted that QBs “start hitting stride” around their second full season in Shanahan’s complex system. Houston’s Matt Schaub led the NFL in passing yards in his second year with Shanahan in 2009 and Atlanta’s Matt Ryan was the NFL MVP in 2016.

Garoppolo, who threw 13 interceptions last year, needs to become more proficient at reading defenses. Former NFL QB Brian Griese, a “Monday Night Football” analyst, said Garoppolo has the talent to become “elite,” but noted a few of his missed reads and throws in the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl determined the outcome.

“Sometimes I think he gets lulled to sleep a bit because Kyle is so great at calling plays,” Warner said. “You turn your back to the defense, and then you put your foot in the ground and you throw it to the guy that Kyle told you to throw it to and he’s open 90% of the time. Every once in a while he’s not and you hit a defensive back in the numbers. So you have to get away from letting the game play you and play the game.”

If Garoppolo plays well enough to erase the doubts, it won’t be the first time he’s done so.

In 2017, after the 49ers acquired him in a trade from the Patriots, Garoppolo essentially was a temp worker. Lynch and Shanahan only decided to keep Garoppolo, signing him to his fiveyear, $137.5 million extension that offseason, after he went 50 as starter. “What we did was commit to each other that we were going to bring him in to see if he was our guy,” Lynch said last season before the Super Bowl. “We weren’t committing right there. We saw enough in that first year that we made that commitment. And we’re sure glad we did.”