VIDEO: Compilation of Jimmy Garoppolo Highlights and Stats Prove He's the Product of Kyle Shanahan's System
By Brady Williams
Jimmy Garoppolo led the San Francisco 49ers to the Super Bowl last year. He's been highly effective, and while no one can take away the success he's had, a new video has made it clear that he owes a lot of his performance to the system Kyle Shanahan has in place. The 28-year-old has to rely heavily on his backs and receivers to get the job done.
Like the tweet says, he's relying on screens and play fakes. The 49ers had the second most rushing attempts per game last year. They were only beaten out by the Ravens, who rely on a running quarterback for a lot of those attempts. What that means is San Francisco benefits from an omnipresent rushing attack. It makes play action all the more convincing, which frees up receivers deeper down field as the defense crashes down on the run. When he's not doing that, he's throwing screens to wide open receivers. It's textbook Kyle Shanahan.
Shanahan likes an offense that emphasizes speed at almost every position. Fast receivers and running backs thrive on screens where they have open field to work with. When the play action works, those same receivers have a much greater chance of being open. All of that is to say Shanahan's system lets a quarterback get away with a lot of issues. When every play is designed to have a guy wide open, Garoppolo doesn't have to make any difficult plays on his own.
Quarterbacks will always excel if they're in a system that caters to their talents, but Shanahan's system just doesn't require a whole lot of talent. Garoppolo doesn't add a new edge to the offense; he just stands and throws. The tape shows it, and we all know it. Jimmy Garoppolo is a system quarterback.