John Lynch explains how Jimmy Garoppolo just has ‘it’

The San Francisco 49ers’ acquisition of quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo has gone about as well as one might expect. They gave up a second round pick for a guy who through three starts with the organization is looking like the long term answer at quarterback. It’s still a small sample size, and his contract status remains a big question mark, but I don’t think the 49ers could have hoped for much better at this point.

Patriots head coach Bill Belichick, and players and coaches around the Patriots locker room, have offered quite a bit of praise for Garoppolo, and have been excited to see him succeed in Santa Clara. But what about Garoppolo has stood out to the 49ers?

General manager John Lynch was on FOX Sports 1 earlier today talking with Colin Cowherd, and he was asked about knowing whether or not Garoppolo is the right guy. Lynch had an insightful answer. (h/t Dylan DeSimone for transcribing chunks of the interview)

“Even in a new environment when you're around new people, NFL locker room, midseason, not an easy environment to insert yourself in, particularly that division ... And the ease with which he did that, and the way his teammates accepted him right away, it speaks volumes to the type of guy and type of leader he is. That showed right away.”

The 49ers will be evaluating plenty about Garoppolo’s physical skillset as a quarterback, but investing nine figures in the position is about some of the intangibles as well. At this point, sample size is the only thing that would make anybody hesitant about signing Garoppolo to a monster deal. Sample size is kind of a big deal, but signing him to a big extension makes a lot of sense. It’s still a roll of the dice at this early juncture, but if you’re going to bet big on somebody, betting big on Garoppolo is not the worst idea in the world.

I love the gushing praise from John Lynch, but I also think it’s safe to say the 49ers GM is making life pretty easy for Garoppolo’s agent, Don Yee.