Jimmy Garoppolo overrated?

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Jimmy Garoppolo overrated?
Former NFL player and scout Bucky Brooks knows the ins and outs of this league, providing keen insight in his notebook.

My favorite aspect of the "Top 100" list is hearing NFL players evaluate their peers. Players have a unique perspective when it comes to breaking down other guys' games, and I tend to lean on those opinions when studying players in the offseason. I always valued player opinions when I was a scout and continue to do so as an analyst today.

That's why my ears perked up when I heard All-Pro CB Jalen Ramsey suggest Jimmy Garoppolo, who made the "Top 100" at No. 90, has yet to truly earn his spot.

"He has good potential," Ramsey said on recent appearance on NFL Network. "I think he'll be a good player, but off my experience in playing him, it was a lot of scheme stuff. It wasn't like he was just dicing us up. It was a lot of scheme stuff.

"Nobody had a scheme on him [in 2017]," Ramsey added. "There was not a lot of film out on him."

Now, I know 49ers fans don't want to hear that, after watching Jimmy G reel off five straight wins at the end of the 2017 season on the strength of a 67 percent completion rate and 94.0 passer rating, but there is some truth to Ramsey's statement.

Despite a few solid starts from Garoppolo in New England, the football world didn't really know what to expect from the young gunslinger in Kyle Shanahan's scheme. Remember, No. 10 was acquired in a midseason trade and opponents didn't get a chance to see him in action until he trotted out in mop-up duty against the Seattle Seahawks in Week 12. With the lack of preseason or regular-season film to scout prior to their games, opposing defensive coordinators were forced to defend the scheme instead of the quarterback in those late-season matchups.

Granted, that doesn't diminish Jimmy G's effectiveness as a QB1 down the stretch, but the NFL is such a preparation league. The dearth of film on him in Shanahan's scheme prevented opponents from designing a Garoppolo-specific game plan that would eliminate his "layups" and make him take more "jump shots" from afar.

"The more information that you have on a player, the easier it is to identify his strengths and weaknesses," a former NFL defensive coordinator told me. "With quarterbacks, in particular, you want to know where their sweet spots are and how they respond to certain looks or pressures. When you don't have that information, it's harder to come up with a game plan that forces them to play left-handed."

Once again, that's not a dismissal of Jimmy G's talents or his overall performance in limited action, but it speaks to the challenge defensive coordinators faced when matching up with No. 10 down the stretch.

But there's more to it than that. Players also didn't have enough information to take advantage of his weaknesses or his possible tells as a playmaker. NFL defenders will scour the tape looking for anything that can help them against a certain quarterback. Just look at how three-time All-Pro CB Richard Shermanwas able to pick up on one of Garoppolo's tells after playing against him in 2017 and watching him every day in offseason workouts.

"You just need to read him -- hand off ball, he's letting it go," Sherman said, per Patrick Holloway of Niners Nation. "You have to be decisive when you make those decisions. If he takes his hand off the ball and doesn't throw it, I think he'll throw guys off, but when he takes his hand off the ball, you've got to be ready to break."

That's the kind of information that not only helps defenders make quicker breaks on throws, but it is part of the scouting report that defensive coordinators will use to craft game plans. Inevitably, some folks will say Ramsey was just hating on Garoppolo for cracking the "Top 100" after just a few performances, but the stud CB was actually shedding light on how defenders and defensive coaches currently view the 49ers' QB1.

While Garoppolo's gargantuan contract extension and the hype over his 2017 campaign suggest that he is an elite player, there are plenty of people in the football world who are still waiting to see if he is a flash in the pan or the real deal at the game's most important position.

Defenses now have a full offseason to break down the quarterback's existing game tape, with more film on the horizon in the 2018 regular season. We will soon find out if Jimmy G is the NFL's next great quarterback or an average QB1 who cashed in on a timely hot streak.