On Monday evening, the 49ers executed a blockbuster trade, sending a second-round pick to the Patriots for the rights to Jimmy Garoppolo which set off a storm of excitement in the Bay Area.
As Garoppolo arrived at the 49ers’ facilities in Santa Clara Tuesday, optimism remained high that he could be the team’s franchise quarterback of the future.
But with a lackluster receiving corps and shoddy offensive line surrounding him, will Garoppolo still be able to transform the 49ers into a winning football team?
ESPN NFL Insider Herm Edwards joined Murph & Mac on KNBR this morning, and said that while he approves of the trade, he thinks the franchise still has to work to assembled enough pieces around Garoppolo to help him succeed.
“Here’s the drawback to it, and you can play both sides of it, and it’s no different than coach Shanahan, who I think is going to do a marvelous job out there, he comes to San Francisco with Atlanta’s playbook, but he doesn’t have the players,” Edwards said. “Jimmy Garoppolo comes with the nuance of New England, and understands how to win, doesn’t have the players. So eventually, you have to get players. Every quarterback is what I called system-needy. What system do you put him in, and who are the players that will help him orchestrate and be successful in the system?”
Edwards continued and said that the expectation around the league was that San Francisco would draft a quarterback this spring, but now, the 49ers have a young passer who already has a small sample size of NFL film to evaluate.
“I think it’s a great move by San Francisco in the sense that C.J. Beathard is a rookie quarterback, they got him a lot of playing time, they kind of know who he is now,” Edwards said. “Going forward, and I think everyone understood that this organization was going to draft a quarterback in this year’s draft, well now they got a guy that has some experience, that’s been in the league. They don’t have to worry about starting no rookie. With that being said, Jimmy Garoppolo is a guy that there’s a small sample size of. The sample size that we’ve seen, he’s pretty good.
Shanahan definitely had more offensive weapons in Atlanta, with receivers Julio Jones and Mohamed Sanu to throw to, as well as running backs Devontae Freeman and Tevin Coleman to hand off to. Only time will tell if, when, and how Shanahan and general manager John Lynch will move to surround Garoppolo with these weapons. But if the trade is any indication, it will be sooner, not later.
Listen to the interview below. To hear Edwards’ comments on Garoppolo, Shanahan and the 49ers, skip to the 0:30 mark.
