49ers roster analysis: Where things stand with Jimmy Garoppolo in 2020

This is the eighth piece of a nine-part series breaking down each position on the 49ers roster as NFL free agency ramps up.

“I think Jimmy deserves a ton of credit what he did this year. I think people talk a little bit about how he was coming off an ACL but I also think people don’t realize that was his first year playing quarterback in this league.”

That was 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan talking about Jimmy Garoppolo last month at the scouting combine when asked about his overall assessment of the team’s franchise quarterback.

Garoppolo, of course, was the only quarterback in the NFL to rank in the top five in passing touchdowns, yards per attempt and completion percentage. He did it in his first full season as a starting quarterback after tearing his ACL in Week 3 of 2018, missing a crucial season of development.

Yet Garoppolo is known for going 3-for-11 while San Francisco gave up a 10-point lead to the Kansas City Chiefs in the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl. But the fact Garoppolo helped the 49ers get there — while the defense and running game were elite throughout the regular season and playoffs — gave Shanahan confidence about Garoppolo heading into the future.

“I thought there was as much (pressure) and he just took it, handled it all year and got better throughout the year. I was very impressed with him,” Shanahan said.

Added general manager John Lynch: “We’re extremely proud of Jimmy and committed to Jimmy moving forward. He’s our guy. ... He’s not come close to hitting his ceiling. The room for growth, the more experience he has in the system, the more experience he gets playing in general, we think the arrow’s up and that’s a good thing.”

Despite those endorsements from Shanahan and Lynch, the offseason rumor monger perpetuated the idea the 49ers would be real players for free agent Tom Brady. Naturally, Brady’s return to his hometown team created a ton of offseason discussion.

While Brady is off to join the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, it’s likely the Brady-to-San Francisco story will cast a shadow over the coming season, particularly if the 49ers don’t get back to the Super Bowl because Garoppolo doesn’t take the next step in his development.

So let’s take a look at where things stand with Garoppolo and San Francisco’s quarterback situation heading into 2020 as the championship window appears to be wide open.

What happened in 2019

Remember Garoppolo’s preseason debut? When he connected on just 1-of-6 passes for no yards with a pick in Denver? He threw more interceptable passes than completions. It had the Bay Area in a frenzy wondering if Garoppolo would ever get back to his pre-injury form.

The next week, he returned to Kansas City, where he sustained the left knee injury more than a year earlier, and played a strong first half, completing 14 of 20 for 188 yards and a touchdown. It effectively shook off the year-long build up of rust.

The regular season got off to a rocky start for Garoppolo as he was getting back in the flow of things after the injury to his front leg. He had a roller-coaster first six games that included throwing six interceptions to seven touchdown passes. He averaged a mediocre 7.87 yards per attempt with a 90.8 passer rating. Though Garoppolo’s production wasn’t a hindrance to winning. The 49ers won all those games by an average of more than 15 points while the defense was throttling an also-ran group of opposing quarterbacks.

Then the 49ers traded for Broncos wideout Emmanuel Sanders in late October, who caught a touchdown pass on his first series with his new team in a 51-13 win over the Panthers. In his second game, he had seven catches (on nine targets) for 112 yards and a touchdown on a Thursday night Halloween victory in Arizona.

The infusion of Sanders mixed with Garoppolo’s increased confidence coming off the injury, and development from rookie receiver Deebo Samuel and Kendrick Bourne, created a massive boost in the passing game.

Garoppolo’s numbers jumped dramatically in the 10 games after Sanders was acquired. He threw 20 touchdowns to seven interceptions, his yards per attempt jumped from 7.87 to a much more efficient 8.62, which was second best in the NFL over that span. His 108.1 passer rating was third.

Garoppolo had some of his best performances in the most crucial games. He matched Drew Brees in a thrilling, last-second victory in New Orleans when he threw for 349 yards and four touchdowns while being helped out by George Kittle’s season-defining fourth-down catch. Kittle carried multiple defenders some 20 yards into field goal range while drawing facemask penalty to set up the game-winning field goal.

Garoppolo was also good in the all-important season finale against the Seahawks, throwing for 285 yards while completing 82 percent of his passes. His 12.95 yards per attempt was his highest rate of the season while the game will largely be remembered for Dre Greenlaw’s game-saving tackle short of the goal line in the final moments.

The playoffs were a slightly different story. Garoppolo threw a bad interception late in the first half of the Divisional Round against the Vikings that led to a field goal. In the second half, he threw just five passes while the running game thrived en route to a 27-10 triumph. The team continued to emphasize the running game the NFC title game when Raheem Mostert had a record-setting performance with four touchdowns and 220 yards. Garoppolo had just eight attempts in that game.

Then came the Super Bowl, when he completed 17 of 20 throws and was a candidate for the game’s MVP honors had San Francisco not blown its lead. He overshot Sanders for a go-ahead touchdown inside two minutes in what’s become the most famous throw of his career. But the 49ers are hoping he’ll have a shot at redemption next winter.

Changes looming

The 49ers have one of the deepest quarterback rooms in the NFL with Nick Mullens and C.J. Beathard backing up Garoppolo. It’s unlikely any significant changes will be made this offseason. But there will be an important decision to make during final cuts before Week 1: Keep three quarterbacks or find a trade partner for one.

Shanahan had never kept three signal callers on his 53-man roster since coming to the 49ers in 2017 and made it through the entire year without needing a 51st roster spot for another position. Will that hold throughout the offseason? Or will the 49ers try to find a trade partner for Mullens or Beathard before the draft? Or will they wait until final cuts.

If they did want to offload a quarterback, it’s more likely they wait until cut-down time when other teams might be more desperate for a backup quarterback with starting experience.

It’s worth noting here the vast majority of Garoppolo’s guaranteed money on his five-year contract he signed in 2018 has gone away. Which means the 49ers could release him with modest dead cap hits of $4.2, $2.8 and $1.4 million the next three Aprils, respectively.

His cap hits over the final three years are $26.6, $26.9 and $27 million.

How pressing is the need?

Not pressing.

If anything, the 49ers are more likely to shed a quarterback rather than make a significant addition. But they will, more than likely, sign an undrafted free agent that could vie for a spot on the practice squad as they have each of the last three years starting with Mullens (2017), Jack Heneghan (2018) and Wilton Spieght (2019).