One person who knows about quarterback play is San Francisco 49ers great turned ESPN analyst Steve Young. The Hall of Fame quarterback played the position at an elite level during his time with the 49ers.
Young was acquired by the 49ers via a trade with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in April of 1987. The move turned out pretty good for San Francisco, and the 49ers are hoping for a repeat of that success.
On Monday, the 49ers acquired quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo from the New England Patriots. San Francisco hopes he can be a centerpiece to build around and lead the team to a brighter future.
What does Young think of Garoppolo being the potential answer at quarterback for the 49ers? He joined the "Tolbert & Lund" show on KNBR Wednesday night and shared his thoughts on the acquisition.
Young believes the trade could speed up the 49ers' rebuild because it allows the team to focus on building around a quarterback that is further ahead than a rookie would be.
"The hard part is you've got eight games to show, right? You've got to show up," Young said, "learn an offense mid-season, team is beat up, 0-8, and I'm going to – 'Ok, go show us what you got Jimmy. Make it happen for us, big boy.'
"But we're a sophisticated group. We'll see stuff. We're not going to just scream and yell with our hair on fire. We'll watch closely and if there's stuff that really looks like it's got real potential, we'll see through that. I'm not overly worried about that."
Young believes that aiming for a start against the Seattle Seahawks after the 49ers' bye week is realistic for Garoppolo.
"That's plenty of time to be competent," Young said. "But to have the nuances and the subtleties, there's no chance. He'll finish the season, last game and go, 'Finally getting a little feel.' But that's just the nature of the situation he's in. We're going to have to see him pedal really fast, really soon."
Does Young, who sat behind Joe Montana for years, believe waiting and learning behind an all-time great like Tom Brady helps a quarterback to be successful?
"I think it's a big piece of the puzzle, a big leg up for Jimmy because he's seen it all," Young said. "To me, it's the expectation level. If you're expected to be great, then you have a much better chance of it than if you're not sure or I don't know what that means or what does it looks like? When you know exactly what it looks like, it helps you get there faster."
You can listen to the entire interview with Young below.