One precinct has been heard from, and it’s produced one vote for Kyle Shanahan and one vote against Jimmy Garoppolo.
While the 49ers’ young quarterback has been receiving sterling reviews for his performance late last season in leading San Francisco to five straight wins, one standout NFL cornerback says it’s time to put the brakes on the Garoppolo hype train – especially after the QB was recently ranked 90th on the NFL Networks’ annual list of Top 100 players.
“Not yet, not yet,” said Jaguars All-Pro corner Jalen Ramsey on the NFL Network this week. “What he play, five games?”
One of those games, however, was against the Jaguars, and he threw for two touchdowns and 242 yards and ran for a score in a 44-33 San Francisco win. The 44 points by the 49ers were the most allowed all season by a terrific Jaguars defense.
Ramsey gave more credit to Shanahan, the architect of the San Francisco offense, than Garoppolo.
“He has good potential,” said Ramsey of the QB. “I think he’ll be a good player. But off my experience playing him, it was a lot of scheme stuff. It wasn’t like he was just dicing us up. It was a lot of scheme stuff.”
In a tweet earlier this week, Ramsey said the 49ers had been successful by getting big gains from their tight ends and fullback off play-action passes, and that the running game also was strong that day. Ramsey said it wasn’t as if Garoppolo beat the Jags’ cornerbacks on deep throws to wide receivers.
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Said Ramsey to reporters immediately after that game: “He (Garoppolo) was very good for their system. It’s not like he just shredded us up in the secondary. They do a lot of boots, they do a lot of stuff like that. Guys were getting open in zones and he was making his throws. Getting the ball out of his hands quick. Kudos to him."
Plus, said Ramsey, Garoppolo was in part an unknown quantity last season. This year, defenders will know much more about how he plays and will be able to defend him better.
A Garoppolo vs. Ramsey matchup in 2018, however, won’t happen. As fun as it might be to see if the young passer can repeat his performance vs. the Jags and their secondary, the 49ers aren’t scheduled to play Jacksonville this season.
