Post#165 » by CrimsonCrew » Wed Dec 27, 2017 6:23 pm
I was listening to some radio yesterday discussing whether to franchise or sign Garoppolo long-term. To me, it's a no-brainer that they should give him a long-term contract. Franchising him will only make him more expensive next year - potentially much more so. There are still some questions about him, of course, but he's answered most of the big ones in my view.
At this point, we know Garoppolo can get it done in this league in terms of relaying the plays, reading the defense, seeing the field, getting the ball out in a hurry, moving in the pocket, throwing under pressure, and throwing accurately. Given his lack of experience and limited time in the system and with the supporting players, he's shown many of those things to an impressive degree. There is certainly room for improvement in some areas, but I'm quite comfortable with what I've seen. The remaining questions are how he'll perform in the playoffs, how he'll fare when faced with adversity, etc. Those things are a bit harder to flesh out until he's actually done them, but based on what I've seen so far, I have no reason to doubt him in those areas. Unless his contract demands are absurd (i.e., highest paid player in the league), I think we'd be crazy not to try our damnedest to work out a deal that will keep him in SF for a good long time.
The best analogue for Garoppolo is probably Rodgers in 2008. In that year, Rodgers (who turned 25 during the season, so one year younger than Garoppolo is now) took over what had been a 13-3 team that retained its head coach, the entire offense, and had relatively little turnover on defense. He was extended seven games into a season in which the team would ultimately go 6-10. And they made him one of the highest paid players in the league. I'm not saying Garoppolo is going to be Rodgers, and that FO should have had a better sense of the person they were getting given their three years with him, but Garoppolo has very arguably been more deserving of an extension at this point than Rodgers was at that point, and I think we're probably looking in that contract range. I wouldn't hesitate to do that sort of a deal.
