If anyone knows what Jimmy Garoppolo is going through, it's probably Alex Smith. The now-retired quarterback was twice cast off in favor of younger, more athletic players. On February 27, 2013, the San Francisco 49ers agreed to trade Smith to the Kansas City Chiefs, opting to go with Colin Kaepernick.
In 2017, the Chiefs drafted Smith's replacement, Patrick Mahomes. Smith was traded to now-Washington Commanders in the next offseason.
Garoppolo is on his way out in San Francisco. Last year's No. 3 overall pick, Trey Lance, will likely be the starter come Week 1 of the 2022 season. Lance is the more athletic of the two, potentially bringing more to head coach Kyle Shanahan's offense.
Two weeks ago, Vinnie Iyer of The Sporting News caught up with Smith, who was coaching the New Era youth football ProCamp ahead of Super Bowl LVI. The retired quarterback revealed that he was impressed with Garoppolo and Lance's handling of what could have been a challenging situation.
"Jimmy is a really, really good player," Smith told Iyer, "took them to the NFC championship, on the doorstep of the Super Bowl, despite them obviously drafting his replacement. Trey Lance is a young kid, super talented, and they handled it really well. I give them all a lot of credit — Kyle, [general manager] John [Lynch], Jimmy, and Trey."
While most saw Garoppolo and Lance as quarterbacks pitted against each other early on, the two were very professional and quickly became friends.
"Everyone put us against each other and everything like that in the media throughout this whole year, OTAs, everything," Lance told reporters after the season, "but he's been nothing but a big brother to me this whole year. So whether it's competing with him at practice or sitting in the meeting room asking us questions, he's been nothing but great to me.
"I have nothing but thankfulness for him and everything he's done and how he's handled everything. Obviously, he's going to be one of my best friends for my whole entire life."
It's that mutual respect that impressed Smith. It's also something that he found familiar from his time with the Chiefs.
"The entire world was trying to tear them apart, and they were keeping it together," Smith said. "There were a lot of similarities that way from my time in Kansas City with me and Patrick."