Garoppolo’s back, without the hype
Cornerback Richard Sherman was 30 years old and coming off two Achilles surgeries, tight end George Kittle was a largely anonymous fifthround pick from 2017, right tackle Mike McGlinchey was a rookie and Cassius Marsh was the team’s top edge rusher. That was 12 months ago. When the 49ers were widely viewed as playoff contenders.
A year later, the 49ers report to training camp Friday with a better roster, but a worse outlook in the eyes of plenty of prognosticators. Why? The answer is easy: Jimmy Garoppolo. A year ago, Garoppolo was the unbeaten quarterback and newly minted $137.5 million savior who had earned his money by transforming a joke into a lateseason juggernaut.
The onewin 49ers’ 50 finish in 2017 after Garoppolo took the starting QB job launched thousands of gushing season previews.
Now, however, Garoppolo is surrounded by a superior supporting cast and … questions.
Can he stay healthy after his 10start career has included a serious injury to his shoulder and a torn ACL? And was his uneven performance in last year’s abbreviated season evidence that his coronation came far too early?
As far as his injuries, it’s possible Garoppolo is more unfortunate than fragile. But the admittedly small sample size suggests he’s at least less durable than many peers: Eli Manning (Giants), Philip Rivers (Chargers), Matt Ryan (Falcons), Matthew Stafford (Lions), Tom Brady (Patriots) and Russell Wilson (Seahawks) haven’t missed a game because of injury over the past seven seasons.
As far as Garoppolo’s performance, it’s fair to say the 70 start to his career sent the hype machine into overdrive.
Garoppolo, after all, has a 64.8 completion percentage, has averaged 8.5 yards per attempt and thrown 12 touchdown passes and eight interceptions in his eight starts with the 49ers.
Nick Mullens, the undersized and undrafted QB who eventually assumed Garoppolo’s spot last year, has nearly identical numbers in his eight starts with the 49ers: a 64.2 completion percentage, 8.3 yards per attempt and 13 TD passes and 10 interceptions.
That’s not to say Garoppolo is on par with Mullens. But he’s also not ready to be mentioned with Joe Montana or Dan Marino or even Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes, the 23yearold reigning NFL MVP.
In other words, Garoppolo, 27, needs to make more than 10 career starts before proclamations are made about his place in the NFL’s QB hierarchy (To wit: After Colin Kaepernick’s first 10 career starts, which included three playoff games, ESPN’s Ron Jaworski declared he could be one of the “greatest quarterbacks ever”).
The good news for Garoppolo is greatness might not be required from him for the 49ers to dramatically improve on last year’s 412 record.
Since Garoppolo tore his ACL in Week 3 last season, Kittle has become a recordbreaking Pro Bowler, McGlinchey has realized firstround expectations and Sherman has shown his lockdown days probably aren’t behind him. In addition, the 49ers have invested major resources to address their biggest weakness by trading for Pro Bowl pass rusher Dee Ford and drafting edge rusher Nick Bosa with the No. 2 pick.
The 49ers have had just one significant loss — that coming with the release of linebacker Reuben Foster in November — but hope they’ve adequately replaced him with highpriced free agent Kwon Alexander.
Still, the lack of preseason buzz is understandable. The 49ers haven’t been to the playoffs since 2013 and have lost 51 of their past 69 games. And it’s no longer viewed as a given that Garoppolo can singlehandedly reverse those trends.
Not that general manager John Lynch is complaining about the altered atmosphere before training camp.
“Last year, there was a ton of hype,” Lynch said in June at the State of the Franchise event. “This year, I kind of like the way it’s going.”