Jimmy Garoppolo and the Niners will be your nightmare in 2018
By Josh Hill
Jimmy Garoppolo is a lethal weapon and the 49ers are going to be hard to deal with next season.
The future is now in San Francisco. There’s no waiting for next year for Jimmy Garoppolo to spend an offseason learning the offense — the Niners have arrived. San Francisco has won ever game Garoppolo has started and he improved his overall record as a starter to 6-0 with an incredible 44-33 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday.
Don’t get it twisted, the Niners absolutely gobsmacked the Jaguars — a playoff team that many were tricked into thinking could make a Super Bowl run behind Blake Bortles. Take the three interceptions out of this and the Niners win is still impressive. Garoppolo took an offense that was winless until he arrived and helped it dump 44-points on one of the best defenses in football.
The future is now, and the Niners are only going to get better this offseason.
One of the most deadly assets the Niners have is the $115 million in cap space to spend in free agency. Garoppolo’s winning streak has done more than give fans something to root for, it’s been an open audition for any potential free agent who wants to come and be a part of something special.
San Francisco can pay Garoppolo what he’s owed (which is a lot) and still have plenty of cap space to go out and get top offensive weapons and defensive help. Kyle Shanahan also has a Top 10 draft pick to spend on one of the best prospects in the incoming class — whether that be Saquon Barkley, Calvin Ridley, or Minkah Fitzpatrick.
Everyone is obsessed with the worst-to-first story that the Jaguars are, but the Niners have done that in about a third of the time. At one point this season the team was winless, now they’re in a position to be deemed ‘the rich getting richer’ with a Top 10 draft pick and $115 million to spend on new talent.
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In the wake of the Rams success, it seems the search is already on to peg a team next year’s version of Sean McVay’s squad. You might not have to look outside of the NFC West to find the next team ready to take the unexpected jump into the deep end and have the ability to swim against the current with confidence.