In the 49ers press conference following the signing of Jimmy Garoppolo, general manager John Lynch sat beside his prized quarterback, and grinned.
“Heading into free agency this is a big deal,” Lynch said. “It’s 75 degrees and sunny outside. We have this guy. Who wouldn’t want to be here?”
Lynch planned to use the Jimmy G influence, one that revitalized a moribund team a few months prior, as a central part of his recruiting pitch.
It has already worked.
It didn’t take long for Lynch to install his plan, securing cornerback Richard Sherman last Saturday, just one day after he was released from the division rival Seattle Seahawks. And while Sherman was attracted to San Francisco for several reasons, Garoppolo was a significant factor.
Sherman appeared on the Murph & Mac show on Tuesday morning to elaborate more on his decision. He was asked if Garoppolo’s presence had an effect on the cornerback’s conclusion to join the 49ers.
“Definitely,” Sherman said. “If they don’t have Jimmy G and aren’t winning those games, I am not sure I still consider it.”
As one of the most astute thinkers in the game, Sherman would have never signed with a team whose quarterback he didn’t trust.
The sample size with Garoppolo is small but convincing. He started the final five games of the 2017-18 season and won every one of them. In those contests, Garoppolo averaged 308 passing yards per game, and the offense as a whole improved exponentially.
Under Garoppolo, the 49ers averaged 410 yards and 28 points per game after averaging 321 yards and 17 in the first 11 games. Garoppolo led the league by averaging 8.4 yards per attempt, an aggression that hadn’t previously been there under C.J. Beathard and Brian Hoyer.
Those around the league, including Sherman, took notice.
“What I saw from him was poise, leadership, respect from his teammates, command,” Sherman said in a conference call with Bay Area reporters on Monday.
The idea of one a blossoming quarterback playing in Kyle Shanahan’s scheme intrigued Sherman. The four-time first-team All-Pro matched up with Shanahan-led offenses for years, developing a profound admiration for his new head coach.
“I have a ton of respect for Kyle and his system, and how creative he is offensively and the mind he has,” Sherman said on Murph and Mac on Tuesday. “He is one of the guys in the league I respect most in terms of innovativeness.”
Listen to the full interview below. To hear Sherman on Garoppolo, skip to 4:13.