San Francisco 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo has dominated Bay Area sports talk. The 49ers are relevant again, and there has not been this much excitement surrounding the team since the hiring of Kyle Shanahan as head coach back in February. The Niners have long been eliminated from playoff contention after kicking off the season with nine-straight losses, but they may be the most positively discussed Bay Area sports team with a losing record in a long time.
There is a sense of excitement surrounding the 49ers, who can finish the season with a record no better than 6-10. That is all due to Garoppolo, who looks like a seasoned veteran in Shanahan's offense despite first being exposed to it following the trade on October 30 that sent him from New England to San Francisco.
Outside of his first start at Levi's Stadium this past Sunday, Garoppolo hasn't had a chance to take in the fan excitement surrounding him taking over the starting quarterback job. He was asked about that on Wednesday.
"I really haven't been out and experiencing it, if that's what you're asking," Garoppolo told reporters. "It sounds like we got a good thing going. The fans are excited. Levi's was -- the stadium was on fire Sunday. Hopefully, it'll be like that this Sunday, and we'll give them another good performance."
Garoppolo has started just three games this season with his first opportunity coming on December 3 against the Chicago Bears. Since then, he has led the team to three-straight victories (vs. Bears, Texans, Titans) and completed 77 of his 113 pass attempts for 1,008 yards, two touchdowns, and two interceptions. His yardage total in those games set a franchise record for a quarterback in his first three starts, eclipsing Hall of Fame names like Joe Montana and Steve Young. In fact, he has more yards in his first three starts with the 49ers than Montana and Young combined.
Against Tennessee this past Sunday, Garoppolo passed for a single-game career-high 381 yards, a touchdown, and a passer rating of 106.8. He seemingly has command of an offense that took Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan a year of struggles to master – and he had Julio Jones as a target.
Cool, calm and collected.@JimmyG_10 was wired for sound during the game-winning drive. Enjoy 🎙 pic.twitter.com/uXPmWI6f6S
— San Francisco 49ers (@49ers) December 21, 2017
While Garoppolo may be the topic of discussion in the Bay Area, Adam Schefter of ESPN joined KNBR on Thursday morning and shared what the perception of the 49ers quarterback is nationally and around the NFL.
"I think everybody has been incredibly impressed with what they've seen," Schefter said on the "Murph & Mac" show. "I think he's done better than what people expected. I think he's been as good, if not better than expected. I think he's gotten the attention of everybody in the league.
"I even think the 49ers have been very pleasantly surprised. They knew that they were getting a bonified quarterback but I don't know that anybody knew that he would be this good, this soon, this effective. He's just been a very impressive quarterback any way you look at it."
Schefter went on to discuss the 49ers patience with Garoppolo following the trade and why they waited to start him. That decision appears to be paying off for San Francisco.
"I think the reason that Kyle didn't want to rush him onto the football field right away, he wanted to take some time first," Schefter said. "I think you're getting an idea of why he wanted to do that right now. Because it was important in his mind to make sure that the guy was properly trained, and understood his assignments, and understood what his teammates could and couldn't do, and all the things that come along with that.
"So, it's a situation where, basically, they wanted to take as much time as they could. They felt the time was right and they put him in and he's been very impressive."
You can listen to the entire interview with Schefter below.