Steve Young, a Hall of Fame quarterback, has always been willing to acknowledge Jimmy Garoppolo's limitations. However, he's also openly praised the San Francisco 49ers quarterback when accolades are due.
After a Week 3 loss to the Denver Broncos, there were fans (perhaps not the most dedicated fans) on social media ready to give up on the season. Unfortunately, things did not look good for Kyle Shanahan's squad. Garoppolo turned in an ugly performance, earning a Pro Football Focus grade of 42.4, his worst since Week 5 of the 2020 season. Of course, the analytics site's metrics shouldn't be the only source when analyzing a player's performance, but they painted a good picture of how poorly Garoppolo played.
Since then, Garoppolo has played well. He is a combined 34 of 57 passing for 492 yards, three touchdowns, and a passer rating of 105.3 against the Los Angeles Rams and Carolina Panthers. But, more importantly, the veteran quarterback has avoided throwing an interception in those games.
"When you have no turnovers, clean games, and look, there were some throws that were 50/50, and they go your way, awesome," Young said Wednesday on KNBR's Tolbert & Copes show. "I think that was a perfect Jimmy game, right? That was like, 'Jimmy, do that. Do that every week, and let's just roll.' And I think he would say, 'Great. I got you covered.'
"I'm super happy about that, and I think he should be too because the thing that I was worried about a couple of weeks ago when things were kind of 1-2 and feeling funny, that somehow he and Kyle could get at each other, and there was this thing out of Denver, I was just feeling funny about it. No way."
Garoppolo admits that this offseason was one the strangest of his career. After leading the 49ers to two NFC title games in three seasons, he became an unwanted commodity. So San Francisco did everything they could to trade away the quarterback, ready to officially usher in the Trey Lance era.
Offseason shoulder surgery made one-time interested teams say, "No thanks. We'll go in a different direction." That left Garoppolo without a new home, and the 49ers stuck with one too many quarterbacks. Unable to find a trade partner and unwilling to release Garoppolo, the two sides agreed to a restructured one-year deal, extending their union by one more year.
In retrospect, getting stuck with Garoppolo turned out to be a blessing after Lance went down with a season-ending ankle injury during Week 2. Garoppolo rolled through the punches, pushed through a rocky start after getting back on the football field, and is winning games again.
"He just keeps rolling," Young continued. "And he doesn't fall for any of the trips and traps, and the cheap shots, and the things that he could be saying and doing. No wonder the locker room loves this guy. No wonder he can just handle all this stuff that happens to him. He's like, 'Yeah, we're good. Let's just keep rolling.' I admire that, and I have to tip my cap to it."
You can listen to the entire conversation with Young below.