NFL Network analyst Brian Baldinger joined 95.7 The Game on Monday morning and shared his thoughts on San Francisco 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, who is finishing up his third offseason with the team.
Garoppolo made it through his first 16-game season as a starter in 2019. His 2018 campaign was cut short by an ACL injury, which makes what he did last season even more impressive. Coming off the significant injury, Garoppolo passed for 3,978 yards with 27 touchdowns, 13 interceptions, and a passer rating of 102.0.
More impressive, Garoppolo won 13 regular-season football games while guiding San Francisco to a division championship, the No. 1 seed in the playoffs, and a Super Bowl appearance.
It was a performance that drew praise from Baldinger.
"Well, he threw for (nearly) 4,000 yards last year on a team that ran up and down the field against just about everybody," Baldinger said on The Morning Show. "I don't know how much better he can get. But I know this: as long as Kyle Shanahan is his coach, there's always ways to get better, whether it's ball mechanics, whether it's better decision-making, whether it's better touch on the deep ball.
"Whatever it is, the plays are always going to keep coming in the play-action, in how you execute those. I always think that, as long as Kyle's your coach, you're going to get better because he's going to make you better. It's a quarterback-friendly offense. You get a lot of easy throws because of the play-action and what it's designed to do.
"I think he can get better in the pocket. Last year, at this time, he was trying to figure out if he could move coming off an ACL injury, and he showed everybody that the rust came off. He got pretty good, and I expect him to keep getting better."
Robert Saleh believes Garoppolo has already improved his decision-making. The 49ers defensive coordinator was recently asked what kind of progress he's noticed this offseason from the team's quarterback.
"He seems more decisive," Saleh said. "A year ago, people forget it was really his second year, technically, starting because his first year, he got hurt really early. Some can argue that it was his first year starting. But his comfort level in the scheme, and what Kyle (Shanahan) and his staff are asking of him, and what each play is asking of him, he's much more decisive with the football, and he has such an amazing arm talent.
"The quicker he can be decisive, and when I say decisive, I mean just decisive where that ball is in his hands and out on his back foot when he hits his back foot in his drop. It's a thing beauty, and you're seeing more and more of it throughout camp where there's less 'Where do I do with the ball?' There's less holding onto it."
Said Shanahan, when asked about his defensive coordinator's assessment: "Yeah, I agree with that."
Still, the coach is eager to withhold judgment until Garoppolo has an opportunity to show how much he has progressed while facing a defense not made up of his teammates. The quarterback, after all, has been going against the same players for weeks now.
Shanahan continues to seek perfection from his quarterback. Even if some of his goals are unrealistic, you might as well shoot for the stars.
"Jimmy's been great," Shanahan said last week during a KNBR interview. "I want him to improve on (everything). I want him to never have an incompletion, and never have an interception. So, we're going to keep working on that until that gets done."
Garoppolo has no problem with Shanahan being a perfectionist. In fact, he sees it as a desirable quality in a coach.
"Yeah, that's what you want in your coach, though," Garoppolo said last week. "When your coach is like that, it trickles down to the other players. Me specifically, it's kind of how I am. So, I think we match up well in that department, but it's just, that's part of football.
"You want to be coached hard. You don't want, when a coach starts ignoring you, that's when you're in trouble. I love having Kyle as a coach. He pushes me. Like you said, he demands perfection, and that's what you want."
As for the conversation with Baldinger on 95.7 The Game, you can listen to the entire interview below.
