Despite leading the San Francisco 49ers to the NFC Championship game last year, the question of Jimmy Garoppolo’s toughness was still questioned by some of his ex-teammates.
New England Patriots starting tight end Martellus Bennett recently appeared on the podcast Double Coverage With The McCourty Twins and offered some candid thoughts about Garoppolo, who he says left the team in a vulnerable spot.
“He decided not to play right before the game. Jacoby (Brissett) came out and played with a f—ed up thumb and played his heart out, but Jimmy was just being a b—- about it all … you can’t win with a b—- for a quarterback, first of all,” said Bennett.
“That was the whole thing with him: He didn’t want to come out and do anything because his agent was trying to protect his body or some s— like that. Which, I can’t fault him for that,” Bennett added. “But like, you should have made that decision on Thursday. Now it’s Sunday.
The whole team wasn’t buying Jimmy G’s non-throwing shoulder injury back in 2016. Yikes. Good stuff from Edelman. https://t.co/7iLWx515dn
— Evan Lazar (@ezlazar) June 27, 2022
Appearing on the I AM ATHLETE podcast, wide receiver Julian Edelman seemed to echo Bennett’s sentiments about Jimmy G.
“I guess Jimmy was practicing and then decided not to play. And Jacoby [Brissett] played with no ligaments in his thumb, which — you can’t do that as a quarterback. You can’t grip. And if it’s your left [shoulder]…” Edelman said.
Edelman added that it wasn’t just Bennett who was upset with Garoppolo.
“A lot of guys got mad about it. A lot of guys got mad. I’m not gonna lie — I got mad about it. I sacrifice my body all day long. I was taking shots for this, numbing up that, ribs, broken ribs, shoulders, you know, Grade 3, hanging on by limbs, just to play. And you know, I can understand why Marty thinks like that.”
Love the honesty from Edelman and Bennett. People inside Gillette were mad at Jimmy G for not playing that week against Buffalo.
The next summer, Jimmy didn't finish minicamp due to a lower body injury (calf?) and after that, it shouldn't have been shocking the Pats traded him https://t.co/f4xOscmGnA
— Mark Daniels (@ByMarkDaniels) June 27, 2022
As far as we’re aware, Garoppolo didn’t piss off his 49ers teammates in the same manner. In the past, they have complimented him on his leadership and his toughness, especially during their playoff run last season.
