After seeing what Jimmy Garoppolo is capable of in his first three games as 49ers starting quarterback, it sure looks like general manager John Lynch fleeced the Patriots by only giving up a second-round pick for his services. With every subsequent game, it becomes more curious as to why New England would willingly give up what appears to be a franchise quarterback for such a reasonable price, and leads one to ask whether or not Belichick and co. underestimated just how good Garoppolo was going to be.
But that’s not the case according to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, who told P Con & Mac on Monday morning that the Patriots believed Jimmy G was going to be the next Tom Brady.
“He looks legit and you’re starting to understand why he was off the table until he wasn’t,” Rapoport said. “The Browns obviously tried during the draft but they did not want to trade him. The reason why was they thought he could be their Tom Brady. Whenever Brady finishes, in their mind, he was going to be the next.”
It was a different feeling than New England had with other Brady backups.
“They drafted Ryan Mallett to be Brady’s successor also and it didn’t work out,” Rapoport said. “They had Hoyer in there, who was a great backup, it just didn’t work out as far as him being the successor. Some of the smartest football minds around wanted Jimmy Garoppolo to be their next franchise quarterback to secede Tom Brady. That’s pretty good praise right there, and the fact that he’s actually going out and doing it is not surprising, but it’s just an affirmation of like all these people knew what they were talking about.”
Listen to the full interview below. To hear Rap’s comments on Jimmy G, start from the beginning.