No doubt one of the biggest stories heading into 2018 will be if San Francisco 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo can replicate his 2017 season and keep winning. We’ve broken down film, comments, and interviews from around the country, and now we have Peter King chiming in.
King recently departed from Sports Illustrated—and his MMQB column by extension—to head to NBC Sports. He was on KNBR’s Murph and Mac on Thursday and gave some lengthy discussion to Garoppolo:
“We’re all totally fascinated with Garoppolo. You know my take on Garoppolo is? I’m going to write this at some point soon. I think it’s hard to imagine a player, a quarterback prospect —this is going to sound ridiculous— a quarterback prospect in NFL history who has the bedrock of quality upbringing as an NFL quarterback as Jimmy Garoppolo does. Because think about it. You’re drafted by the Patriots. You’re in a quarterback room with Tom Brady. You’re being coached every day by Josh McDaniels. You go sit in the team meetings and listen to Bill Belichick. And you get basically inculcated into the winning way of the NFL through Belichick. OK? You do that for three-and-a-half years, and then you go to a guy [Kyle Shanahan] who is as imaginative.”
Obviously we can argue this with the other players to come out of that quarterback room with Tom Brady who didn’t work out. Matt Cassel definitely comes to mind. Looking at the NFL at large, there’s also quarterbacks like Matt Hasselbeck who studied under Brett Favre for a couple years and then were sent elsewhere to attempt a starting campaign. Just because he was in a room with Tom Brady and Josh McDaniels doesn’t really mean much in the scheme of things, at least until he gets a few more starts under his belt. There’s also Steve Young who got coached by Bill Walsh and sat behind Joe Montana, but that’s obviously different because I think King was referring to prospects drafted/UDFA, that had to sit behind someone. Obviously this is a different situation as Garoppolo went from McDaniels to Shanahan and got to witness two different philosophies (which works to his favor).
What I personally liked the most is what King said towards the end:
“I don’t want to overstate this. He’s the most compelling story in the NFL this year.”
It’s a pretty good interview and King (obviously) knows his stuff when it comes to this. Head over there to listen to the full interview. King brings up the Shanahan/McVeigh rivalry and also the 2011 playoff game against New Orleans as well as his extensive take on Garoppolo. Then come back here and we’ll discuss.