Jimmy Garoppolo believed he was better than Tom Brady

Even though he spent three and a half seasons backing up Tom Brady, Jimmy Garoppolo always believed he was the better quarterback.

Jimmy Garoppolo is soaring with confidence, and he should be. After all, he is 7-0 as a starting quarterback in the NFL – his first two wins with the New England Patriots, and his last five to close out the 2017 season for the San Francisco 49ers.

But long before Garoppolo got a chance to be a starter, his confidence was already through the roof. When the Patriots drafted him in the second round of the 2014 NFL Draft, he already believed he was better than longtime New England starter Tom Brady, who at the time, was a three-time Super Bowl champion.

Garoppolo spent three and a half seasons backing up Brady in New England, winning a pair of Super Bowls himself, before being dealt to San Francisco midway through last season. The entire time, his confidence in himself never wavered.

It’s just part of his competitive nature, Garoppolo told Bleacher Report, as it’s always been. He felt that in order to be successful, he had to believe he was better than everyone else.

“Even when I was a little kid, my brothers, whenever we would play, I would literally always think I was going to win,” Garoppolo said. “I wouldn’t, but I would always think that. It’s like when I go to New England, when I first got there, I thought in my head, ‘I’m better than this dude.’”

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Ironically enough, Brady carried the exact same mindset during his younger days. When he was serving as the fourth or fifth-string quarterback at Michigan, he always told himself he was better than all the guys ahead of him. When he arrived with the Patriots, he always believed that he was better than New England’s veteran Pro Bowl quarterback Drew Bledsoe. In time, he proved it by dethroning Bledsoe and leading the Patriots to victory in Super Bowl XXXVI.

Garoppolo’s story may have been the same if he had remained in New England. Instead, he’ll have to win his rings in San Francisco.