What 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo could learn from Steve Young’s struggles

San Francisco 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo may have been late to recognize receiver Kendrick Bourne streaking toward the back of the end zone. Bourne beat the Cardinals secondary for what could have been a game-winning score in last week’s 24-20 49ers loss.

And Garoppolo was clearly late when he tried to hit Trent Taylor on the decisive fourth-and-5 that sealed Arizona’s upset win.

But the problem might not be that the 49ers’ quarterback worked too slowly. Rather, he went through his reads too quickly and didn’t let his targets get open.

At least that’s the assertion of Hall of Fame quarterback Steve Young, who said he went through a similar experience early in his career as San Francisco’s signal caller and was reminded of that time by Garoppolo’s last two games.

“One of the things that I struggled with, I tended to read too fast,” Young said Wednesday on KNBR’s “Tolbert, Kreuger and Brooks” show. “And all of a sudden my options were over and Mike Shanahan would turn to me like, ‘Bro, no one’s open, you’re going too fast.’”

Mike Shanahan, of course, was Young’s offensive coordinator with the 49ers in the mid-1990s and the father to current head coach Kyle Shanahan, who’s pulling the strings for Garoppolo and the current version of San Francisco’s West Coast offense.

“The reason why I say that,” Young continued, “I noticed in Jimmy, especially in those key plays in the Super Bowl at the end ... and my sense is that when I watched the game and I watch the game back, I’m like, he went through it too fast. Because he wanted to make sure he found somebody.

“And I got that feeling again this week. He would go through things and it was like, ‘Hold on, just take a deep breath, they’re going to become open.’ And it’s something I want to keep an eye on that early on, you’re pressing, you’re pressing off the Super Bowl situation that is in the back of your mind. You feel like you got to get things done, especially towards the end of games you should win. You’re at home, against the Cardinals, you press, and then all of a sudden you just get fast.”

49ers offense hobbled at receiver

Garoppolo clearly wasn’t pressing when he was traded to the 49ers in 2017. San Francisco was 0-8 and out of the playoff picture at the time of the trade. Garoppolo took over as the starter and played loose and aggressive, helping the team finish 5-0 in his starts while elevating the offense from 21st in yardage to third, and 28th in scoring to fifth. Garoppolo signed his five-year, $137.5 million contract the following February.

Compared to Sunday, he looked like a much different quarterback, before the large contract and Super Bowl-or-bust expectations. He wasn’t frenetic in the pocket. He was smooth and aggressive, in stark contrast to how he played against Arizona, when he completed just 8 of 17 passes for 89 yards in the second half and never looked comfortable.

“I think there’s obviously good and bad from watching the film, but just being decisive, getting the ball out on time,” Garoppolo said this week in a self critique. “I think those are two big things that will go a long way.”

Garoppolo’s play wasn’t the only reason the offense sputtered in the 24-20 loss. The 49ers were without their top two receivers, Deebo Samuel and Brandon Aiyuk, and star tight end George Kittle hyperextended his knee in the second quarter and wasn’t targeted after halftime.

Aiyuk, the recent 25th-overall pick in the NFL draft, is expected to make his debut Sunday against the Jets after sitting out last week with a hamstring injury.

Additionally, the team added veteran Mohamed Sanu, who worked with Shanahan with the 2016 Atlanta Falcons that went to the Super Bowl on the back of a historically efficient offense. Sanu that year had 59 catches for 653 yards, which was more than any of San Francisco’s active wideouts had with Garoppolo in 2019. But Kittle won’t play on Sunday, leaving the 49ers without their top pass catcher from the last two seasons.

Kyle Shanahan Friday was asked about Young’s thoughts on Garoppolo working through his reads too quickly.

“Yeah, that’s a very common thing,” Shanahan said. “All the time throughout every game, there’s going to be times where a quarterback either goes too fast through a progression or too slow. Sometimes it’s harder when you’re amped up and everything, so you’re just trying to find that even keeled throughout the game, that balance of being amped up and trying to keep your rhythm of the game. So, there was a couple he might’ve been a little too fast on, a couple a little too slow, but that’s pretty normal.”

Garoppolo has time

Garoppolo might also be feeling the weight of his far-from-certain future with the team. Of course, he has little guaranteed money left on his lucrative contract, which means the 49ers might be looking for another answer at quarterback next season if Garoppolo doesn’t live up to the team’s championship expectations. Shanahan and general manager John Lynch in the spring admitted to evaluating Tom Brady during his free agency before opting to stick with Garoppolo.

There’s also a reasonable chance Garoppolo improves. After all, there was no spring program, training camp was limited to just 14 practices and there was no preseason. Plus Garoppolo was markedly better in the second half of last season that included standout performances in the two biggest road games of the year, at New Orleans and Seattle, which paved the way to Super Bowl berth. Week 1 is often filled with overreaction.

“I want to believe that things get settled,” Young said, “and things will get much much better.”

This story was originally published September 20, 2020 at 5:00 AM.