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The quarterback carousel continues to spin in the NFL, and among the reported teams looking to get into the mix are the San Francisco 49ers – but not everyone is sold to parting with Jimmy Garoppolo as the best solution to the woes of last season.
Legendary Niners linebacker Patrick Willis told Fox News in an interview this week that he believes San Francisco should stay with Garoppolo despite an injury-ridden season, adding that he has already shown the franchise that he could make him a Super Bowl contender.
“I think they saw him at his best,” said the seven-time Pro Bowler. “Now if they’re going to get him that defense, the same kind of defense they had when they went to the Super Bowl and he can kind of stay healthy, then yeah, obviously they can win with it. him.”
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Willis, who was drafted by the 49ers with the No.11 pick in 2007, spoke about how injuries play a big role in management’s perception of your worth as a player – a situation Garoppolo faces.
“The sport is very interesting, and being in the NFL it becomes even more interesting from a business point of view as well as just from a performance standpoint,” he explained. “It’s that saying, the cliché of ‘what have you been doing to me lately.'”
“In football it’s really about [that mindset], and injuries are one of those things that can make a team really suspicious when it comes to you, especially if you can’t get through the injury while still being able to perform. “
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Garoppolo was drafted by the New England Patriots in 2014, where he served as Tom Brady’s alternate for four seasons before being traded mid-season to the 49ers. He made his debut a few weeks later and in 2018 he was offered a five-year contract, worth a maximum of $ 137.5 million.
Garoppolo’s first season as a 49ers starter ended quickly when he tore up his ACL in week three; however, it would bounce back quickly.
Garoppolo would lead the Niners to their first 8-0 start since 1990 and take them to the Super Bowl, where they would ultimately lose to the Kansas City Chiefs in the dying minutes of the game.
A lingering ankle injury in 2020 saw the young quarterback on and off the pitch, and with names like Deshaun Watson and Russell Wilson floating as possibilities, Garoppolo’s future with the team has turned cloudy.
Willis understands wrestling better than anyone.
Patrick Willis (No.52) of the San Francisco 49ers returns the team before the game against the Kansas City Chiefs at Levi Stadium on October 5, 2014 in Santa Clara, Calif. (Michael Zagaris / San Francisco 49ers / Getty Images)
“Personally, I went through it a bit myself with injuries, but I was still able to find a way to perform and be productive, and with Jimmy, I think, yeah, he had injuries. , but I feel like this moment… I feel like it might be difficult. Part of him is probably like, I’m here but I don’t necessarily see my coaches come out and say like they did it a few years ago, “he’s our guy.”
Willis said he suffered a number of injuries over his eight seasons in the NFL, but it was all about the mentality. He remembers a saying from his teammate Justin Smith.
“He once said, ‘Man, if we only played the game when we were feeling good, we’d never play. “”
Willis explained that when he played the game he felt that the players “were as safe as you were productive”.
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“You can’t stay somewhere so long before it starts to give its welcome, and on this date and time, it’s like everything is mixed up, repeated, mixed up real fast, that is – say if you’re irrelevant and don’t keep it hot, then they’ll mess around and make you move somewhere else. ”
He continued, “When I came in as a rookie and had this rookie season that I had, I knew right then and there … I had to come with it.”
Willis had a rookie year for the books.
He led the league in tackles, received first-team All-Pro and Pro Bowl honors, and was named NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year. He would go on to have six seasons with 100 or more tackles and was named to six more Pro Bowls.
Since retiring from the NFL, Willis has joined CoachTube.com, an online platform offering instructional lessons in a wide range of sports.
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He said he got involved as a linebacker coach around 2017 after feeling the need to share what he had learned during his eight years in the NFL.
“I learned a lot of information while playing the game and I would like to share and give back that.”
Willis said he saw the platform, which mainly offers coach-to-coach education, really “take off” once the pandemic hits, as all levels of the sport, high school and college, have been forced to go virtual. .
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