San Francisco 49ers starting quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo may have been entrenched as Tom Brady’s backup during his tenure in New England, but the Eastern Illinois product says he felt he had the ability to pass the five-time Super Bowl Champion on the depth chart.
‘It’s like when I go to New England, when I first got there, I thought in my head: “I’m better than this dude,”‘ the 26-year-old Garoppolo told Bleacher Report.
Garoppolo never got the chance to take Brady’s job, and was ultimately dealt to San Francisco last October. But he does boast a perfect 7-0 record as a starter and a new five-year, $137.5 million contract, so it’s understandable – or at least conceivable – that he could have such confidence.
What’s remarkable is that he felt that way as a 23-year-old rookie in 2014 after going mostly unnoticed in college.
Garoppolo (near left, right) was 2-0 as a starter in New England in place of Brady, but went 5-0 in his first five starts after being traded to San Francisco in October
Garoppolo did admit that Brady was better than him when he arrived at training camp as a second-round pick in 2014. It’s just that, according to Garoppolo, he’s always thought he’s the best quarterback on the field.
‘I’ve always had that mindset,’ Jimmy says. ‘I knew that [Brady] was better than me in my first day in the NFL. Naturally, you’re the rookie and he’s the veteran, but you have to have that mindset, that you want to be the starter.’
Of course, Garoppolo never said as much to Brady, instead choosing to observe his mentor without pestering him with questions: ‘I’m not stupid. You have to pick your battles.’
According to multiple reports, the trade was made against the wishes of Patriots coach Bill Belichick, who wanted Garoppolo to take over under center when Tom Brady retired.
With the 40-year-old Brady insisting that he wasn’t ready for retirement, the Patriots opted to send Garoppolo to San Francisco rather than signing the would-be free agent to a lucrative contract extension to continue serving as a backup. Remarkably, Belichick selflessly turned down a better offer from Cleveland because he felt Garoppolo would have a better future in San Francisco, according to Bleacher Report.
Garoppolo, who went 2-0 in place of a suspended Brady in 2016, went 5-0 for the previously hapless 49ers after the trade. He was rewarded with a five-year, $137.5 million deal to remain the 49ers starting quarterback, making him the third-highest paid player in the NFL.
Fans are understandably excited as well, as Garoppolo’s jersey currently ranks eighth in sales, according to a recent report by the NFL Players Association.
A five-time Super Bowl champion, four-time Super Bowl MVP, and three-time NFL MVP, Brady is coming off another remarkable season in which he led the league in passing yards and passer rating. He and the Patriots were upset in Super Bowl LII by the Philadelphia Eagles.
One report by ESPN suggested that Brady felt threatened by Garoppolo, and not wanting to retire or compete with a younger player, he supposedly celebrated when the 26-year old was traded to San Francisco in October for a second-round pick.
Brady has denied this report.
There have been multiple reports that Brady and Belichick quarrelled in recent years over Brady’s friend and trainer, Alex Guerrero, who also worked with several other Patriots players including Garoppolo. Eventually Guerrero was barred from the sidelines and the team plane, although his clinic sits near the Patriots’ facility in Foxborough, Massachusetts.
The ESPN report claimed that Guerrero initially refused to work with Garoppolo after he injured his shoulder in 2016.
With BR, Garoppolo did not address any specific aspects of that report.
‘Parts of it were true, parts of it I knew weren’t true, parts I didn’t know if they were true or not,’ Garoppolo said.
Garoppolo did describe a competitive but playful relationship with Brady. The two often played the ‘bucket game,’ in which quarterbacks go head to head to see who can throw the ball accurately into the bucket the most times.
The games did get serious.
‘There would be days where one of us would win and you wouldn’t talk to the other for a little while,’ Garoppolo noted. ‘We’d be fine the next day, but it was one of the best things for me.’
As Garoppolo sees it, the fact that they were pushing each other in practice ultimately helped the Patriots to win a pair of Super Bowls.
He did say that Brady has given him significant advice, but did not explain what he meant: ‘I can’t tell you that. That’s top-secret stuff.’