49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan hasn’t been shy about putting his support behind quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo this offseason, especially after he and general manager John Lynch confirmed the club discussed pursuing quarterback Tom Brady in free agency.
In a video conference Thursday with 49ers reporters, Shanahan gave his quarterback his strongest endorsement yet, and set the highest possible expectations for the 28-year-old.
“When you have to talk to Jimmy about one of the best quarterbacks of all time being available, I know Jimmy has a goal to be that,” Shanahan said about the team’s offseason interest in Brady. “I know Jimmy. I believe Jimmy has the ability to be that and that’s what both of us are going for.”
Believing Garoppolo has the ability to be as good or better than Brady is extremely high praise, but it isn’t far off from what Shanahan told the Athletic’s Tim Kawakami on the TK Show podcast after the draft.
“And it’s also fun to talk to him about that type of stuff because he worked with Tom. He knows how great Tom is,” Shanahan told Kawakami about the transparency between him and Garoppolo during the offseason. “Jimmy wants to get to there. And it’s important to me that he does, too. I would love to have something like what Belichick and Tom have had (in New England). Those are my expectations, and it’s cool when something like this comes up … he knows those are my expectations, and it’s cool that I know that they’re his also. And that’s what we’re both trying to work at to get to.”
There’s value in setting lofty goals, but it probably isn’t realistic to expect Garoppolo to reach Brady’s level. However, the fact Shanahan is willing to make that kind of statement says he has at least some confidence that his quarterback didn’t hit his ceiling last season.
Shanahan has noted several times during the offseason that Garoppolo isn’t recovering from an ACL tear this offseason which should help him improve in 2020. He mentioned it again in Thursday’s video conference.
“I can tell his thoughts are a lot clearer because he’s not worrying about an ACL and rehabbing like you just said,” he said. “He’s 100-percent focused and getting better mentally from knowing the offense from just knowing defense. It’s not just, everyone says, learning the offense. Jimmy’s learned the offense. He’s fine with that. It’s just being automatic, it’s understanding coverages, going through everything where, I can’t tell you how much more I know as a coach in year 17 or whatever then I did in year two. That never stops. So, to go through an offseason where you don’t have to rehab the whole time, it gives you a chance to take that to another level.”
Quarterbacks have a good track record in their second full season under Shanahan which bodes well for the 49ers and their signal caller. He already completed 69.1 percent of his throws a year ago with 8.4 yards per attempt and a 102.0 passer rating last season. Improvements on all those numbers put Garoppolo among the league’s best, statistically.
If the 49ers coach is actually this bullish on his quarterback and just paying lip service, we may see a different, more pass-happy version of the 49ers’ offense next season. San Francisco attempted just 478 passes last year — fourth-fewest in the NFL. Part of that had to do with the leads they generally played with, but it was clear early in the year that Garoppolo was still knocking the rust off after tearing his ACL in Week 3 of the 2018 campaign.
San Francisco may not have the greatest quarterback of all-time under center, but there’s a chance Garoppolo is an MVP-caliber player this year should he even approach the expectations Shanahan has set twice this offseason. If he falls well short, next offseason could be another interesting one for Garoppolo and the 49ers.
[lawrence-related id=658473]