© Brace Hemmelgarn | 2018 Feb 3
Steve Young is back on KNBR for the 2018 season!
As he will every week, the Hall of Fame quarterback joined Tolbert & Lund on Thursday afternoon, and broke down what he is looking to see from 49ers starting quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo in 2018. Put simply, he wants to see a seasons-worth of the quick decision making and anticipatory throwing Jimmy G showed off at the end of last season.
“The truth is, one of the easiest things in the NFL to do is go from 1-9 to 5-9,” Young said. “I’m not belittling it at all, because what I saw in the doing is why I was impressed. It’s the eye test. The training, and the sense of what it’s supposed to look like and his, I call it, anticipatory throwing, the ball is coming out and he knew what he wanted to do with it, and that’s huge. It’s huge.
“Even if he would’ve gone 2-3, I think I’d be equally excited to be honest with you. It wasn’t necessarily that they won all the games, it was really just what I saw him do, and the degree of difficulty of the things that he was able to accomplish, again on short notice, not a lot of time, that tells you something too. That a guy can come in, grapple with the playbook and kind of get ahead of it, even in the preseason. He’s a guy that’s watched Tom Brady.”
Garoppolo finished last season 5-0 as the 49ers’ starter, and posted a completion percentage of 67.4, throwing for 1,560 yards with seven touchdowns, five interceptions, and a passer rating of 96.2.
“When I say anticipatory throwing, it’s like the ball’s coming out because I’m ahead of the decision. I already know 3/4 of the reason why I’m going there and then the ball comes out on time, or even early, and then all of the sudden people are open, you’re throwing them open, ball’s coming out, guys are getting it when they expect it, where they expect it.
“And so with all of that, I say if he does that then we’re going to be good. Now great? You’ve got to go earn. Great you’re never sure about. You’ve got to go do it, you’ve got to do it over and over and over again. I’ve got a really strong feeling things are going to be good.”
Listen to the full interview below. To hear Young on Garoppolo, start from 7:05.