Kyle Shanahan and Jimmy Garoppolo have been together for two-and-a-half seasons now. The duo has the San Francisco 49ers back in the Super Bowl and hopes to create a new NFL dynasty.
Shanahan had an opportunity to acquire Garoppolo before, though. No, I am not talking about that pre-draft phone call to New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick before the 2017 NFL Draft. Before then. Even before Garoppolo was drafted by the Patriots.
Shanahan was the offensive coordinator with the Cleveland Browns in 2014 when Garoppolo was entering the draft. The coach made a push for the organization to draft Garoppolo, but team decision-makers ultimately opted to select Johnny Manziel.
The rest is history.
Still, Shanahan remembers doing his homework on Garoppolo and meeting the quarterback for the first time.
"I remember they didn't have a lot of receivers show up," Shanahan told reporters on Tuesday during a Super Bowl LIV media event, "so I had to do some of the routes, which was frustrating because he threw it too hard, and I didn't have gloves.
"And I remember the next few days, my hands were purple, but I feel like I caught most of them."
Remember, Shanahan was a college receiver at Texas.
What was Garoppolo like back then as the smaller-school quarterback tried to break his way into the NFL?
"So the workout was great, and then going out to dinner with him later that night, just being able to hang out with him," Shanahan continued. "Very simple, very humble. When you spend a night with someone like that, especially through the draft process, and they come off the way he does, [you think] what's the guy hiding?
"He seems so relaxed and such a good dude. Now, I've been with him for about three years, and (he is) no different than that first night."
Maybe the Browns should have listened to Shanahan back then.