49ers’ Kyle Juszczyk feels Jimmy Garoppolo will use scrutiny as motivation

Jimmy Garoppolo has started in a Super Bowl. His record is 24-9 as the starting quarterback of the San Francisco 49ers—including the playoffs. Yet, no matter how many times the team says Garoppolo is expected to be the quarterback in 2021, there remains uncertainty surrounding his future.

Garoppolo missing 23 games over the past three seasons may have something to do with that. He missed 13 games in 2018 after suffering an ACL injury. The quarterback missed 10 last season due to ankle injuries. He has missed nearly as many games with the 49ers as he has won, which has led to many questioning his durability.

Kyle Juszczyk, fresh off re-signing with the 49ers, joined SiriusXM on Tuesday and was asked about his quarterback and the scrutiny he has endured. It's something that puzzles the fullback, who has a lot of belief in his teammate.

"I don't know what it is, and it's unfortunate because I don't think he deserves all the criticism that he gets," said Juszczyk. "I think he'd be the first one to say that he's able to shoulder it, and there are times that he wishes that he did better, obviously, like every player in the NFL. But the amount of scrutiny this guy gets is just unbelievable.

"This is a guy that led his team to a Super Bowl not too long ago and has played some really good football. His winning record -- I think he's got like an 80 percent winning percentage when he's healthy and out there."

As Juszczyk has explained before, Garoppolo isn't deaf to the critical chatter. After all, there is so much of it. The fullback doesn't feel that his quarterback hears most of it, though. Garoppolo isn't very active on social media.

As for the scrutiny that does reach Garoppolo, it's going to be used as motivation.

"The guy just wins, and the great thing about him too is that he really doesn't let the outside noise affect him," Juszczyk continued. "He's so good at blocking that kind of stuff out, so I'm not too worried about Jimmy being down about what everyone is saying about him. If anything, it's just going to motivate him. I think the guy's going to work extremely hard to battle back this year and have his best year."