Kyle Shanahan on Jimmy Garoppolo: Jimmy was unbelievable for us

The football gods are funny. Jimmy Garoppolo signs with the Las Vegas Raiders after his tenure with the 49ers, which included two NFC Championship game appearances and one Super Bowl appearance. Funny enough, the 49ers and Raiders scheduled joint practices ahead of their preseason matchup on Sunday. The joint practices have created a time of reflection on Garoppolo’s time as a 49er.

Kyle Shanahan was asked about Garoppolo in his press conference following the first practice session:

With Las Vegas Raiders QB Jimmy Garoppolo here, there’s been talk of when you were asked right after the season about if he was going to come back and a lot of people were saying you were quite dismissive and didn’t say anything about his legacy or what he’d done here. Do you have any regrets about that or the way that comment was perceived?

“I think I’ve talked about his legacy. I think Jimmy was unbelievable for us. We won lots of games. I think that was a simple question. Is there a scenario where he’ll be back here next year? And I give a commonsense answer and no. I think that was a little overblown on trying to be a shot at him or anything. We knew Jimmy wasn’t coming back on his standpoint and our standpoint financially and everything. So that was just the common-sense answer. But anytime I’ve been asked about Jimmy and what he meant to us and how he was, I’ve never said it differently. So Jimmy was unbelievable here. I think he was the best quarterback here in about 20 years since [Former QB] Steve Young. Has an unbelievable record and every time he played and stayed healthy, we were either in the Super Bowl or NFC Championship Game. So, I hope no one insinuates I ever said differently.”

Garoppolo recently sat down with Mike Silver of the San Francisco Chronicle and detailed how Shanahan’s comments during the 49ers exit press conference bothered him.

Shanahan didn’t shy away from praise of Garoppolo’s time and contributions. The 49ers won many games with Garoppolo under center. Regardless of how things turned out, winning that many games isn’t easy in the NFL.