Kyle Shanahan Makes Outlandish Claim About Jimmy Garoppolo's 49ers Tenure

The San Francisco 49ers took the field for the first time today with Jimmy Garoppolo in another uniform.

A joint practice was held between them and the Las Vegas Raiders in their lead up to their preseason matchup on Sunday. Today's joint practice invoked a trip down memory lane for the 49ers regarding Garoppolo. Multiple players were asked to reflect on Garoppolo's 49ers tenure, and everyone who was asked gave a respectable response.

"Some guys are just natural born leaders. You either got it or you don't," said Fred Warner on Garoppolo. "With him he was a natural born leader through and through. His competitive edge, every time he stepped out there you knew he was always going to give us a chance. Just seeing him and his poise out there, he's just a leader through and through. I respect him a lot, and I'm grateful for everything he brought to our team."

It's never a surprise when a 49ers player emphasizes that Garoppolo is a leader. That's always been the case with anyone on the team. But what was a surprise was the answer Kyle Shanahan gave on Garoppolo's 49ers tenure.

"I think Jimmy was unbelievable for us. We won lots of games," said Shanahan. "I think he was the best quarterback here in about 20 years since [Former QB] Steve Young. Has an unbelievable record and every time he played and stayed healthy, we were either in the Super Bowl or NFC Championship Game."

Excuse me? The best 49ers quarterback since Steve Young? The Hall of Fame quarterback? The guy who brought a Lombardi trophy to San Francisco? THAT Steve Young? Come on now. That has got to be one of, if not the most outlandish claims Shanahan has made. I almost fell out of my chair when I heard Shanahan say that on the livestream of his press conference.

The attachment of Garoppolo to the success the 49ers have had since he joined the team is so exaggerated. It always dwindles down to him being a "winner" due to his overwhelming winning record versus the other quarterbacks who have started for the 49ers in the last 20 years. Jeff Garcia, and even Colin Kaepernick, should be ahead of Garoppolo just because of how much of the team's success resided way more directly because of them. I guess Shanahan doesn't see that since Garoppolo is still a great quarterback in his eyes.

“There's not many people on this planet who can play quarterback at the level that Jimmy can," said Shanahan. "I mean there's definitely not 32 and I really don't think there's 15. So to have one of those guys always gives you a chance and they got a guy that they got a chance to win with. That's all you can ask for. And the type of thrower he is, the type of plays he can make and guys like to play hard for him also.”

You're right Shanahan. Garoppolo is such an incredible quarterback. That is why you spent three first round picks on Trey Lance. He was THAT incredible that the 49ers had to let him leave. The jokes just write themselves with this. No matter how you look at it, Garoppolo gets way too much credit for the success the 49ers had when he was here. He did a great job of helping steady the ship, but the greatness the team had was not because of him and never was.

Garoppolo's legacy with the 49ers is the increased valuation of a backup quarterback. Before him, it never was an issue. Now, the 49ers are in the middle of training camp with FOUR quarterbacks they seem to be comfortable with. Excellent job Garoppolo. Your legacy lives on forever.