The Spark Is Gone For Kyle Shanahan and Jimmy Garoppolo
It kind of feels like Jimmy Garoppolo’s fate as a 49er was sealed the instant he botched that late 4th quarter throw in the Super Bowl that would have won the game. Before that, he was an interesting prospect. A guy who sat behind Tom never getting much playtime but Belichick seemed enamored with him and defended him constantly. He was intriguing enough to get Patriots fans to even call for him at certain points when Tom wasn’t playing at his usual goat levels. Patriots fans are not known for having a good sense of perspective.
When he was traded to San Francisco we were all excited to see what he could do. What he could do was manage a game long enough to get hurt. But he could still be good! In 2019, he was! He wasn’t great, but he didn’t need to be. The 49ers were the best team in football in 2019 and only lost at the end because one of their weak points was QB. There are a lot of good arguments to be made that you don’t need a truly elite top 5 QB to win a super bowl. For 3 quarters, that game was proof of it. Then it became proof of the opposite when Mahomes finally broke it open and Jimmy choked.
Then he spent most of the 2020 season nursing more injuries. This past weekend the 49ers decided to trade up for the Dolphins #3 pick. This has been widely understood to be a move for a quarterback. While Trevor Lawrence will obviously be gone, the 49ers will be able to pick whoever the Jets do not, meaning the 49ers will probably end up with the better QB overall because the 49ers aren’t a trash fire of a team and are built to win right now with a good offensive mind at the helm. I’m sorry Jets, you might even make Justin Fields/Zach Wilson a good franchise guy, but it won’t be immediately. Too many problems on that squad.
As of right now, the chatter seems to be the Jets are taking Zach Wilson, who has supplanted Fields as the expected #2. In more surprising chatter, the 49ers are believed to be targeting Mac Jones and not Fields. I wouldn’t trust any of this chatter. We are in that part of the draft cycle where nobody has any consensus on QB prospects and people constantly fall in love with darkhorses. Sometimes those rumors end up lasting till the draft and someone like Mitch Trubisky or Blake Bortles goes far too high, but most of the time they don’t. I am not going to put any stock in 49er QB speculation until the week before the draft when the optics level out. Would be funny if it was Mac Jones though, 49ers fans haven’t been thrilled with that rumor so far.
What’s this mean for Jimmy? He didn’t go anywhere this offseason as many people expected him to. I saw rumors of him going to multiple teams. Will he ride the bench for the new guy? Will he “mentor” the new guy (read: fight to keep his job and try to save face if he rides the bench). Will he activate the competitor gene that exists in players like Tom Brady or Aaron Rodgers and turn into a top 5 guy purely fueled by spite? That might be fun.
But if he does that, he’ll just command a bigger haul for some team (Chicago) in 2022. The honeymoon of Jimmy in the bay is over. Sometimes you know before it’s official. Maybe he can go on The Bachelor.
Jimmy G will start through the year and have a good one…then we trade him.
HOw do I know he will be here? because the alternative to Jimmy G is pretty much Blake Bortles
I just don’t see the 49ers giving up that much just to upgrade from Jimmy G to younger, doofy Jimmy G.
For those who have trouble reading the text under @kyleShanahan, it says: “I coach the 49ers, love passing the ball in the 4th, and #nepotism.”
I don’t think the 4th quarter miss matters as much as Jimmy G’s inability to stay healthy. For all the crap he takes for his play on the field, the records don’t lie. Shanahan has a great record with him and a pathetic record without him. Jimmy G’s play is not the problem. The problem is how often he can’t deliver that play because he’s hurt
Poor Jimmy. I really wanted him to perform well… Mostly because I hate Tom Brady and will root against him any chance I have. But when Jimmy ends back in the Patriots… It will all come full circle.
I feel like after the draft you should do a comic with all the quarterbacks who lost starting jobs this off-season. The “how come he don’t want me?” Club, if you will.
Do Goff and Stafford count? They both lost _a_ starting job, although only one of them is getting thrown in a dumpster.
Watch how he pulls a Rodgers and completely balls out
for the pats
I knew Jimmy G would never live up to the hype when the 49ers made him one of the highest paid QBs in the league after 6 games of just decent play.
this is a good un. i especially like the subtle work with lighting and facial expression. your command of the medium grows yearly.
the only thing that’d make this better would be visible droolpool from shanny in the last panel.
“Patriots fans are not known for having a good sense of perspective.”
He’s right… We’re not…