No more talk about when Garoppolo will take Brady spot
PHOENIX — Rookie backup quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, a Rolling Meadows High School graduate, was very much in the public conversation about the New England Patriots in the aftermath of their stunningly dreadful performance in a loss at Kansas City on a Monday night four games into the 2014 season.
Coach Bill Belichick was being asked whether three-time Super Bowl-winning quarterback Tom Brady's most productive days were behind him. There was speculation that Garoppolo, a second-round draft choice in May out of Eastern Illinois, was being groomed to take over for Brady somewhat sooner rather than much, much later.
All of that is a fading memory now.
Brady played in his sixth Super Bowl Sunday against the Seattle Seahawks, clinching his fourth title in tandem with Belichick. Garoppolo has receded into the background.
Garoppolo said this week it has been a hectic year of football for him, going from his final collegiate season to pre-draft preparations to the draft to offseason practices to training camp to his first NFL season.
“It's been a crazy year,” Garoppolo said. “That's for sure. It's been very fast, but a very long year at the same time. I've been doing football for over a year straight now. One of the other rookies was talking about it with me, and it's been crazy. I wouldn't have it any other way.”
Garoppolo took over for Brady in the 41-14 defeat to the Chiefs on Sept. 29, the second-most-lopsided loss of Belichick's coaching tenure with the Patriots, and completed 6 of 7 passes for 70 yards and a touchdown. For the season, Garoppolo appeared in six games and connected on 19 of 27 throws for 182 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions.
Brady is 37. The end of his career might not be so clearly in sight any longer, after he rebounded to have another superb season and get the Patriots a Super Bowl win. But no one plays forever. The Patriots, at some point, will need a different quarterback. They traded away Ryan Mallett in August.
Garoppolo, at least for now, is in line to be the successor. Charley Casserly, the former general manager of the Houston Texans and Washington Redskins, said earlier this season that Garoppolo could be an NFL starter someday.
“He might be,” Casserly said. “They took him in the second round because they weren't going to be able to get him in the third round. They took him a little higher than what his value was because they knew they had to do that to get him. It makes sense. It was a good move. Brady is older, and Mallett wasn't going to be the answer. You'd better have someone sitting there.”
Garoppolo said this week that he learned the value of proper preparation from Brady this season. He grew more comfortable, he said, as his rookie season progressed, even while mostly sitting and watching Brady.
“I've definitely gotten more confident throughout the year,” Garoppolo said this week. “Growing from being a rookie in minicamp to where I am now, I feel a lot more confident.”