Don't count Jacksonville Jaguars cornerback Jalen Ramsey among those who are highly impressed with Jimmy Garoppolo. Ramsey didn't have many good things to say about Garoppolo even after his defense gave up 242 passing yards, two touchdowns, and a rushing score to the San Francisco 49ers quarterback during a Week 16 44-33 loss last year.
"What did he play, five games? He has good potential, I think he'll be a good player, but my experience in playing him, it was a lot of scheme stuff. It wasn't like he was just dicing us up," Ramsey told NFL Network in June.
Ramsey believes much of Garoppolo's success had to do with the fact that defensive coordinators didn't have a whole lot of film on the quarterback. The Jaguars cornerback changed his tone (somewhat) during a recent interview with GQ while discussing quarterbacks Nick Foles of the Philadelphia Eagles, Joe Flacco of the Baltimore Ravens, Ben Roethlisberger of the Pittsburgh Steelers, and others — none of whom he is high on.
Also on his list of overrated quarterbacks is Matt Ryan. While discussing the Atlanta Falcons quarterback, 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan came up, and, in turn, so did Garoppolo.
"I think Matt Ryan's overrated," Ramsey said during the interview with GQ. "You can't tell me you win MVP two years ago, and then last year, you a complete bust, and you still got Julio Jones? There's no way that should ever happen. I don't care. You know what that tells me? That tells me Shanahan left, went to San Francisco, got Garoppolo, made Garoppolo this big thing. And now Garoppolo is a big name—and now [Ryan] has this bad year? Alright, well, was it really you, or was it your coach? He was doing what was asked of him, and it was making him look really, really good."
But what about Garoppolo? Is the Jaguars cornerback changing his tune when it comes to the 49ers quarterback and what he said in June?
"I don't know yet," Ramsey responded. "Just cause when they beat us, his hype picked up. They were like, 'He beat the number one defense.' It was all schemes. He didn't beat us. It wasn't like he diced us up. It was literally all schemes. They were doing flat routes to the wide open fullback, and he's running for 20 yards down the field four times during the game. So he didn't really dice us up. It was their fullback and their tight end on over routes. But if you know how to work within your scheme, then it means you're good. I guess you could say he's good."
H/t to Pro Football Talk for the find.