"Right now" are the keywords in that title.
Max Kellerman and Stephen A. Smith of ESPN's First Take have very different views of Jimmy Garoppolo. Fans believe Smith is desperate to under-appreciate the San Francisco 49ers' quarterback. Kellerman is typically high on the signal-caller.
Smith, once again, went on a rant about Garoppolo on Friday morning. It is worth noting that the ESPN personality says he doesn't view the 49ers quarterback as a bad player. He just doesn't want Garoppolo to have too much credit for San Francisco's impressive 10-1 record.
Smith threw out various stats, as he always does, like the fact that Garoppolo only has two 300-plus-yard passing games this season. He also notes that much of the 49ers offense's success has come because of its No. 2 ranked rushing attack.
Conveniently, Smith fails to add that Garoppolo is completing nearly 70 percent of his passes this season, so maybe he's doing exactly what is being asked of him, and maybe that is not as prominent because of the team's fantastic running game.
It is worth noting, to Smith's credit, that Garoppolo has thrown 10 interceptions this season, which the ESPN personality surprisingly didn't mention.
But I've gone on a tangent. You probably didn't click on this article to read about anything Smith said. You are interested in what Kellerman had to say about Garoppolo, and the rest of the hosts were a little taken aback by one specific comment.
"Now let me say something about Jimmy Garoppolo, whose job it is not to lose the game," Kellerman said. "That's what Tom Brady is, right now, except Garoppolo is a little better than that. Don't lose the game. We have a great defense, we have a running game."
After recovering from the shock of the statement embedded within Kellerman's analysis, Molly Qerim wanted to confirm that Kellerman called Garoppolo better than Brady.
"Obviously," Kellerman responded. "Yeah, he's a little bit better."
That's not to say that Kellerman believes Garoppolo's sample of work over the years is better than Brady's, just that the ESPN host believes the 49ers quarterback is better than the Patriots' signal-caller right now.
Below is a comparison of Garoppolo and Brady's numbers this season.
| Garoppolo | Brady | |
| 68.8 | Comp % | 62.2 |
| 2,731 | Passing Yards | 2,942 |
| 20 | TDs | 15 |
| 10 | INTs | 5 |
| 100.6 | Rating | 88.5 |
Kellerman went on to explain that the Patriots have already proven that they can win without Brady. The 49ers, however, lost Garoppolo last season and finished with just four wins. They are 10-1 with Garoppolo this year, and the quarterback is 16-3 as San Francisco's starting quarterback and 18-3 over his career.
You can watch the entire segment below.