San Francisco 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo had a pretty good statistical season last year. He passed for 3,978 yards — the fourth-most in franchise history, joining names like Steve Young and Jeff Garcia.
That's not bad.
He tossed 27 touchdowns through the air and added another on the ground, but also threw 13 interceptions.
That's something to improve.
Garoppolo guided the 49ers to 13 regular-season wins, a division championship, home-field advantage, and a playoff run that ended with a trip to the Super Bowl.
Again, not bad.
Yet, Garoppolo shouldered much of the blame for February's Super Bowl loss. Then the 49ers flirted with the idea of bringing in Tom Brady. Garoppolo knew that's just part of the business, though, and didn't take it personally. Or so he says.
The 49ers quarterback spoke with reporters on Tuesday via a video conference call and was asked to offer a self-evaluation of his 2019 season.
"I thought it was a productive year," Garoppolo responded. "Obviously, it didn't finish the way we wanted it to, but I think there was a lot of things that went well for us. The thing that I always take pride in is being an accurate quarterback. The more accurate you are, the more yards-after-the-catch the guys can go get for you.
"In our offense, it's putting the ball in the right spot, putting it in the right timing of the play. It's little things like that that go a long way in our offense.
"I think I was pretty happy with everything, how it went. Like I said, we just want the last game of the season to turn out a little differently."
The hope is that, with a full season finally on his resume, Garoppolo's development will take another step forward; maybe enough to get the 49ers over that Super Bowl hump.
"I think having my first full season under my belt, coming off the ACL and everything like that, everything that went into that season, it will only help me going forward," Garoppolo continued. "In terms of being a quarterback, I still have a long way to go. I'm still pretty relatively young for a quarterback, just in terms of playing time.
"I think, as a quarterback, you've got to get out there, get the reps, play, getting the live-action like that. I think having a full season under my belt will help me going forward."
As for that knee, Garoppolo doesn't overthink it anymore after being another year removed from the injury.
"It's night and day compared to where I was last year, at this time," Garoppolo said. "At this time last year, it was more so getting back to being in a live pocket, having live bullets flying around me, and getting used to that. We're past that. I haven't really thought about it in a long time.
"As far as the mobility and things like that, it's whatever Kyle (Shanahan) calls for. I think my knee's in a good position. It's able to do whatever it needs to do, at this point."
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