Sports

After several ‘chaotic’ seasons, Rams QB Jimmy Garoppolo is having fun again

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2 days ago

August 13, 2024

After several 'chaotic' seasons, Rams QB Jimmy Garoppolo is having fun again

LOS ANGELES – After a wild few seasons, quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo finally looks relaxed.

The 10-year veteran has returned to a backup role, with both Garoppolo and the Los Angeles Rams recognizing it was the perfect time to unite. Garoppolo was looking for a solid foundation, while the Rams wanted reliable insurance for starter Matthew Stafford.

It’s been a great combination so far, especially after Garoppolo faced so much uncertainty in recent years.

“It was chaotic at times, but it was all a learning experience,” Garoppolo said The Athletics. “That’s one thing I took from this. The NFL is crazy, man. Everyone has a story. Everyone goes in any direction to make it. But ultimately it’s your story and you have to make the best of it. Good, bad or indifferent, whatever happened in the past, happened. … Now I’m here, and I’m trying to make every day the best day.”

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Garoppolo’s career as a whole has been remarkably eventful. The New England Patriots drafted him in the second round in 2014, with Bill Belichick pointing to Tom Brady’s age as the primary reason for exploring a possible succession plan. But when Brady’s play didn’t diminish as he got older, the Patriots traded Garoppolo to the San Francisco 49ers in 2017.

Garoppolo tore his ACL in 2018, guided the 49ers to the Super Bowl in 2019 and lost most of his 2020 season with a high ankle sprain. Garoppolo kept the starting job in 2021 after the Niners made a huge draft investment in Trey Lance, but the team had prepared to turn to Lance in 2022, setting off an unpredictable chain reaction that seemed to lay the groundwork for Garoppolo’s trade or release. Instead, he reworked his contract and filled in for Lance after his gruesome ankle injury in Week 2, but ultimately went down again with his own Lisfranc injury, paving the way for the emergence of Brock Purdy.

While it was a dull moment, Garoppolo underwent a grueling recovery from offseason foot surgery before joining the Las Vegas Raiders in 2023, but he was benched midseason on the same day head coach Josh McDaniels was fired.

So you can see why a backup job with the Rams and an opportunity to reset was attractive to Garoppolo.

“It’s really nice to have a healthy offseason,” Garoppolo said. “I haven’t had that for a while. The foot surgery was difficult last year. For anyone who has ever experienced that, it was not a fun recovery, but I feel like I am back to myself. In this role I get to experiment with a number of things, because I’m with the 2’s. I can be myself. I haven’t had that in a while, so it feels good to get back to that.

Garoppolo credited Stafford and Rams coach Sean McVay as largely the reason he wanted to play in Los Angeles. McVay, in particular, impressed Garoppolo when the two talked on the phone. Garoppolo, who attracted interest from other teams, was also eager to learn more about Stafford’s process.

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Garoppolo, who will serve a two-game suspension at the start of the season after violating the league’s performance-enhancing drug policy, also understood this offseason that a guaranteed starting job would not be on the table. Sure, he could have gone somewhere to compete with a young quarterback, but that would have led to a similar dynamic to the one he experienced in San Francisco, where the organization would inevitably lean on the long-term investment. Likewise, teams that start over at QB generally have head coaches whose job security isn’t as stable, as he just saw in Vegas.

McVay is as close to a certainty as there is in the league, and his offensive scheme speaks for itself. The atmosphere in the Rams’ building is also as strong as it can be.

There was a litany of reasons for Garoppolo to take a step back in Southern California.

“In this place you can also be yourself, which is different from other places I’ve been. You are pressured with a sense of urgency, but in a good way. It’s clear that everyone wants to win. Everyone wants to perform well. They do it the right way here. They push you positively. There’s just a lot of good things happening, man. I enjoy every bit of it. Even the meetings are a good time. Everything is going well at the moment.”