Jimmy Garoppolo raised some eyebrows Thursday when he said that Sunday’s win over the Seattle Seahawks reminded him of 2017 when he had more “freedom” to operate.
That comment left everyone trying to interpret exactly what the San Francisco 49ers quarterback meant. Did he feel too constricted by head coach Kyle Shanahan’s normal offensive game plan?
Supply your own interpretation of what Garoppolo intended to imply. Do not, however, ask Shanahan to parse Garoppolo’s comment. Several reporters tried that Friday, to no effect.
“You’d have to ask him what he meant by that,” Shanahan told reporters (via Pro Football Talk). “There was no difference in that game than every game, so you can ask him on that. It was probably just going in when the game plan is for someone else and just coming off and winging it and going with it. That’s what I would guess, but it sounds like that’s a question for him.”
Reporters circled back to the “freedom” question later in Shanahan’s media conference Friday, and it did not go well.
“No, I really don’t know the quote that he said,” Shanahan said. “I’m with Jimmy a lot, so nothing really surprises me. I get to talk to him every day. I hear your huge interpretations of that quote and you guys just said it. I can’t interpret it. I interpret it with my relationship with him every day, so just go ask him what he meant by it.”
When someone else asked Shanahan about the comment, he had heard enough.
“I’m not going to waste my time with that, but you can,” Shanahan said. “I got some real stuff to do.”
Just as a recap, here’s what Garoppolo said Thursday, about feeling he had more freedom Sunday to throw the ball downfield, just like in 2017, when he threw for 1,560 yards in five starts.
“I’d love that,” Garoppolo said. “Yeah, there’s a lot of things that go with that obviously, but yeah, I love doing that stuff. In ’17, there was a freedom where me, the receivers, tight ends, we had a good chemistry going. And when you get that with offensive skills and a quarterback, it makes for a tough offense.”
The 49ers are fortunate to have Garoppolo, who takes over the helm in the wake of Trey Lance’s season-ending ankle injury.
