49ers HC Kyle Shanahan focuses on positives of Garoppolo relationship

San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan now has only nice things to say about new Las Vegas Raiders quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo.

"It was extremely successful," Shanahan said of his on-field marriage with the quarterback while at the annual NFL owners' meetings, as shared by Myles Simmons of Pro Football Talk. "The one year that he did stay healthy, he took us to the Super Bowl. There were two other years — the next year that he stayed the most healthy, we went to the NFC Championship. Jimmy played at an extremely high level for us and allowed us to win a lot of games and is a very good quarterback." 

It was reported in early February that the relationship between player, coach and general manager John Lynch went "a bit south in the days or weeks leading up to" this year's NFC Championship Game. Before that story emerged, Shanahan admitted he couldn't "see any scenario" where Garoppolo would remain with the club come the offseason. 

Garoppolo ultimately put pen to paper with the Raiders on what The Athletic reported to be a three-year deal that could be worth up to $72.5M (with $33.75M guaranteed). The 49ers, meanwhile, are hoping Brock Purdy will be able to recover from his torn ulnar collateral ligament in time to return to the field at some early point after the 2023-24 season gets underway.

From the fall of 2017 through this past campaign, Garoppolo worked out to a 38-17 regular-season record with San Francisco. He also played in one Super Bowl and two NFC Championship Games in that space. Garoppolo missed 31 games due to injuries while with the 49ers.

Shanahan joked this week that "you’d have to run into Jimmy to have a conversation with" the signal-caller. For what it is worth, that supposed reality did not prevent current Las Vegas head coach Josh McDaniels from sending what became a very important text message to Garoppolo in January.