(SportsRadio 610) - Jimmy Garoppolo would make a terrific backup quarterback for the Texans.
I have no problem with general manager Nick Caserio wanting to reunite Garoppolo with coach DeMeco Ryans and offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik and the other former coaches from San Francisco who have relocated to Houston.
I do have a problem with the Texans signing Garoppolo to be their starter in Ryans' first season. They should forget about that preposterous notion.
If the Texans are going to pursue Garoppolo in free agency, which begins at 3 p.m. on Wednesday, they should try to sell him on perhaps starting the first three or four games until Ryans and Slowik believe the rookie is ready.
The Texans need to draft a quarterback with the second overall pick, either Bryce Young or C.J. Stroud. They're not a playoff contender. They're in the third year of Caserio's rebuild. If they double last season's victory total to finish 6-11 in Ryans' first season, fans would be ecstatic and pumped about the 2024 season when they could be a playoff contender for the first time since 2019.
Since Ryans was hired, fans have been more excited about the team since after the 2018 season when the Texans won the AFC South with an 11-5 record. That was Deshaun Watson's first full season as their franchise quarterback. In 2019, they won the division again and defeated Buffalo in the playoffs, but that offseason was spoiled when Bill O'Brien traded receiver DeAndre Hopkins to Arizona.
So it's been a long time since fans were as excited as they are now as the Texans enter free agency with some room under the salary cap for the first time in years and have 11 draft choices, including second and 12th in the first round.
Other than wanting to play for some of his former coaches with the 49ers, it would make no sense for Garoppolo to sign with the Texans knowing they're going to take a quarterback with their first pick. They may have good intentions and say they're going to wait until the rookie is ready, but you know how that goes. As does Jimmy G.
The second overall pick in the draft, especially a quarterback as accomplished as Young or Stroud, shouldn't need much time to get ready to play in his first season. After general manager Rick Smith traded up in the first round in 2017 to select Watson, the plan was to give him time to develop behind Tom Savage. What is it they say about the best-laid plans?
Watson progressed mentally much faster than the coaches anticipated when he was drafted, and he was ready to start the first game against Jacksonville. But O'Brien was loyal to Savage. He lasted the first half of that 29-7 opening loss. Watson played for the first time and didn't fare any better than Savage. In the next game at Cincinnati, Watson was inserted as the starter and ignited a victory over the Bengals. He was 3-3 as a rookie starter before blowing out his knee in practice.
At this point of the evaluation process, Young and Stroud are higher rated than Watson was in 2017. If you go back and read scouting reports about Watson's arm strength, accuracy issues and questions about how well his strengths in the Clemson offense might translate into the NFL, no wonder people were surprised when Smith traded up to get him.
At this point in his 10-year career, Garoppolo should want to sign with a team that'll give him a chance to start for two or three seasons, at least, and give them a chance to make the playoffs. Any NFC South team other than New Orleans, which signed Derek Carr, would be better at quarterback with Garoppolo as its starter.
Garoppolo could be reunited with his first offensive coordinator at New England, Las Vegas coach Josh McDaniels. He coached Garoppolo for his first 4 ½ seasons before he was traded to the 49ers in 2017, Kyle Shanahan's first season as their coach. If the Jets don't trade for Aaron Rodgers, perhaps coach Robert Saleh, the former 49ers' defensive coordinator, could convince management to sign Garoppolo.
The Texans are checking out Jimmy G., as they should be with just about every possible free agent quarterback and prospects in the draft. Ryans and Slowik – not to mention new quarterbacks coach Jerrod Johnson – were on Shanahan's first staff. Ryans and Slowik know Garoppolo very well, as does new senior offensive assistant Shane Day, who was also part of Shanahan's staff in 2019-20.
During his 5 ½ seasons with the 49ers, Ryans and Slowik witnessed the best and worst of Garoppolo. He won his first five starts in the last five games of the 2017 season, and everyone got excited about 2018, but he missed the last 13 games with a torn ACL. The 2019 season was his best. It's the only time he started a full season. He threw for 3,978 yards, 27 touchdowns and 13 interceptions. They finished 13-3 and lost the Super Bowl to the Chiefs. Garoppolo had two touchdown passes and three interceptions in the playoffs.
That 2019 season was the high point of Garoppolo's career. Over the last three seasons, he's missed 19 of a possible 50 starts. He's been benched and injured. Shanahan thought so little of him as their long-term starter he traded multiple first-round picks to move up to get Trey Lance in 2021.
Last season, Lance was named the starter in preseason and suffered a season-ending broken ankle. Garoppolo replaced him and played well until he went down for the season with an ankle injury early in the 12th game against Miami. Rookie Brock Purdy replaced him and led the 49ers to the NFC Championship Game.
Obviously, at this point of his career, the 31-year-old Garoppolo wants to get as much money as he can. It's difficult to imagine Caserio investing a lot of money in a quarterback who should be destined for a backup role early next season.
With so many teams desperate for quarterbacks, it would make sense for Garoppolo to sign with another team, but if he comes to Houston, it should be as a veteran backup who's willing to help develop a talented rookie who has designs on the starting job early in the season.
John McClain can be heard Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday on SportsRadio 610 and Thursday on Texans Radio. He writes three times a week and does two Houtopia Podcasts for SportsRadio610.com. He also can be read four times a week on GallerySports.com.
