‘The guy’s a winner’: Fred Warner expects a better Jimmy Garoppolo to return to 49ers

There has been a lot of conversation surrounding the future of the quarterback position for the San Francisco 49ers. Will it be Jimmy Garoppolo, or will the team look to upgrade? Names like Matthew Stafford, Matt Ryan, and Deshaun Watson have all been thrown out there, along with several incoming rookies.

The 49ers' All-Pro linebacker, Fred Warner, expects Garoppolo to silence his doubters in 2021. Warner joined Good Morning Football on Thursday. Kay Adams asked him why Garoppolo is the quarterback who can lead the team back to the Super Bowl.

"The guy's a winner," Warner responded. "He's a natural-born leader. I think that he makes all the throws. It's crazy because you see him practice and in games, the type of throws that he makes, and he can play football."

Garoppolo finished the 2020 season completing 67.1 percent of his passes for 1,096 yards with seven touchdowns and five interceptions through six games. He has missed 23 games over the past three seasons due to injuries but led the 49ers to a Super Bowl appearance during his first full season as a starter in 2019.

"I think he's just continuing to get better each and every year," Warner continued. "Obviously, he's got to be able to stay healthy, to be on the field, and give us a chance to win games and compete at a high level, but he has so much respect from all the players in that locker room just because, like I said, he is a natural-born leader, and we all look to him to rally the troops. I think he's going to come back and be better than ever."

The quarterback position will continue to be one of the biggest offseason storylines for the 49ers, but it sounds like Warner has the utmost confidence in Garoppolo as the team's leader.