I’m not giving up on Jimmy Garoppolo. He missed most of last year with a knee injury, but he still looks to me like a quarterback who’s very much in the mix for top-15 numbers.
Garoppolo hasn’t played much, but when he’s been out there, he’s been effective. And he’s working with one of the league’s best offensive coaches. Kyle Shanahan knows how to piece together a productive passing game.
In each of Shanahan’s two seasons in San Francisco, the team has averaged 265 passing yards per game, and that’s been with lesser quarterbacks starting most of the games – Brian Hoyer, C.J. Beathard, Nick Mullens. The team hasn’t had great wide receivers.
San Francisco ranked 14th in passing last year, and Shanahan’s previous three offenses ranked 6th, 2nd and 8th. It was under Shanahan’s direction, recall, that Matt Ryan put up monster numbers in 2016. The Falcons that year averaged 310 passing yards, with 38 TD passes.
There are still issues to figure out, of course. Shanahan’s offenses haven’t tended to finish with a ton of touchdown passes. The 49ers need to add a big-time receiver, and they need to shore up their offensive line – they’ve allowed 43 and 48 sacks the last two years.
But if I were guessing right now, I would expect the 49ers to rank in the top 10 in passing yards in 2019. (I wouldn’t be as optimistic for TD passes – 15th to 20th.)
For those who like to select their quarterbacks in the later rounds, Garoppolo should be a name on their radar.
| SHANAHAN'S PASSING OFFENSES | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Team | Pct | YPG | TD | Int |
| 2015 | Atlanta | 66% | 288 | 21 | 17 |
| 2016 | Atlanta | 70% | 310 | 38 | 7 |
| 2017 | San Francisco | 60% | 265 | 15 | 15 |
| 2018 | San Francisco | 62% | 265 | 26 | 20 |
—Ian Allan