Sean McVay now has Jimmy G on his side and he’s really happy about that.
Quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo is officially a member of the Los Angeles Rams, and one of the people most excited about this may be Rams head coach Sean McVay.
Garoppolo most famously played six seasons with the Rams’ NFC West rival, the San Francisco 49ers. And McVay didn’t have much fun because he was on the opposite side of Garoppolo’s game.
“He’s a guy who’s been kicking our butts for years,” McVay said, via Ben Volin of the Boston Globe. Garoppolo has an 8-0 regular season record against the Rams in his career, making him one of the league’s most successful quarterbacks against McVay’s teams. In those games, Garoppolo threw for 2,023 yards, 12 touchdowns, and seven interceptions. The Rams have defeated Garoppolo’s 49ers just once, defeating their division rival 20-17 in the 2021 playoffs en route to the Super Bowl.
Garoppolo, 32, is expected to replace Matthew Stafford in Los Angeles. However, Garoppolo will miss the first two games of the 2024 season due to a suspension for violating the NFL’s policy on performance-enhancing drugs. “I messed up my TUE (therapeutic use exemption),” the veteran QB said when he arrived in Las Vegas after signing with the Raiders in the 2023 offseason.
Garoppolo has struggled to find the same consistency since leading the 49ers in Super Bowl IV, which San Francisco lost to the Kansas City Chiefs. The season following his Super Bowl appearance, Garoppolo re-injured his ankle and missed most of the season. In 2021, Garoppolo appeared in 15 regular season games and led the Niners to the NFC Championship, but lost to the Rams for the first and only time in his career.
Trey Lance started the 2022 season as the 49ers’ starter ahead of Garoppolo, but “Jimmy G” took over the starting spot again after Lance broke his ankle and suffered a season-ending foot injury. Brock Purdy was promoted to the Niners. New franchise quarterback. The following offseason, Garoppolo signed a three-year, $72.8 million contract with the Raiders ($45 million guaranteed). His stay in Las Vegas was tenuous and short. Garoppolo, who had thrown the league’s most interceptions and had three hits in three starts, was benched and replaced by rookie Aidan O’Connell. The Raiders released Garoppolo on March 13, four days before signing him to a one-year contract.
Garoppolo currently has a “complex” one-year, $4.5 million contract with the Rams and McVay. The quarterback room now includes Stafford, 2023 fourth-round pick Stetson Bennett and practice squad member Dresser Wynn. Bennett, 26, is a true wild card in the Rams’ QB equation, but he did not play during his rookie season after being placed on the reserve/non-football medical list for undisclosed reasons.
However, Bennett is expected to participate in offseason training. “I haven’t had a chance to talk to (Bennett) yet, but he seems to be doing well,” McVay said, via Los Angeles Times reporter Gary Klein. “I’m looking forward to getting him back and seeing how he feels. We’ll just take it one day at a time with him.”
With Garoppolo sidelined for the start of the season, a strong offseason and preseason for Bennett could go a long way in potentially competing for the Rams’ No. 2 quarterback spot in the rankings.
