DENVER, CO – AUGUST 19: Quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo #10 and head coach Kyle Shanahan of the San Francisco 49ers shake hands before a preseason game against the Denver Broncos at Broncos Stadium at Mile High on August 19, 2019 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Justin Edmonds/Getty Images)
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The conversation about Jimmy Garoppolo is just getting started. Should the injured quarterback be the 49ers’ starter in 2021?
San Francisco will have weeks, months, to make that decision.
But on Tuesday, Kyle Shanahan said that he had seen enough.
“I don’t think it’s difficult for me to evaluate. I’ve got a good idea with Jimmy and what Jimmy is capable of doing, and that’s why he’s been here,” Shanahan said.
And with that comment, a Jimmy G exit this offseason looks ever the more likely.
In my conversations about the 49ers’ quarterback situation, one argument for keeping Garoppolo is steadfast: He’s only had one full season — one in which the 49ers went 13-3. He hasn’t had enough time. We just don’t know what he is yet.
It’s an argument that’s never held much sway with me.
After all, this is a league where things change fast, and only the best of the best survive. Rookie first-round draft picks now only have eight games to prove that they were worth that early selection. We’ve seen players like Case Keenum, who led the Vikings to a 13-3 record in 2017, go from MVP candidates to no-questions-asked backup in just two seasons.
If you’re in the NFL, you need to constantly evolve and adapt, and at no position is that more true than quarterback. We overlook it, but it’s evident every week. There were stretches where defenses thought you had to play zone to stop Patrick Mahomes. It worked for a week, maybe two. Now, playing zone against him is death. How many times has Russell Wilson countered the latest defensive trick designed to stop him? How many iterations have there been of Tom Brady?
But guys like Keenum, Blake Bortles (2018 AFC Championship Game), and Mitch Trubisky (11-3 in 2018) couldn’t adapt. They only had one kind of smoke, and it took them plenty far, but not far enough.
No, those are players whose teams had success because, well, they were great teams. And while those three QBs were certainly talented enough to play — they gave their team its best chance to win — and get paid, that success was a fleeting moment in time.
Eventually, there was attrition on the rosters around those quarterbacks. Good teams get expensive fast and it’s a salary cap league. In response, more responsibility fell on the quarterback’s shoulders. In each case, he couldn’t carry the burden.
Defenses figured out how to make those quarterbacks’ lives hell. They were found out. And it didn’t take too long before all three found their way to the bench.
Remind you of anyone?
The best adapt, the pretenders fade, and Derek Carr just… is.
Yes, Garoppolo gives the 49ers the best chance of winning this season, but no one is seriously suggesting that Nick Mullens or C.J. Beathard should be his replacement for next year.
Or you can say this season’s ankle injury is the reason for Garoppolo’s regression — that he actually hasn’t been found out. The ankle injury has, no doubt, been an issue. But I disagree with that overall sentiment, too.
Shanahan has admitted to Garoppolo being found out.
No, he didn’t say anything to that effect Tuesday. But his recent game plans that have protected Garoppolo — or, more accurately, protected the team from Garoppolo — in last year’s NFC playoffs and in a handful of games this year paint a pretty clear picture.
Who am I to question that?
Shanahan is hiding Garoppolo and now he’s saying he’s seen enough to fully evaluate him.
Does that sound like a quarterback who is going to come back next year?
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