Wyman & Bob: Are Garoppolo’s stats vs Seahawks skewing some fans?

Earlier this week, ESPN NFL analyst Louis Riddick said that if the San Francisco 49ers release quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, then the Seahawks should be interested and he may be the “missing piece” they need ahead of the 2022 season.

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Currently, the starting quarterback job in Seattle is between Geno Smith, Drew Lock and Jacob Eason.

In addition to Garoppolo likely becoming available, former No. 1 overall pick Baker Mayfield has almost certainly played his last game with the Cleveland Browns, and he may also be an option for the Seahawks at quarterback.

After hearing Riddick’s comments, Dave Wyman and Bob Stelton of Seattle Sports Wyman and Bob shared their thoughts on the potential of the Seahawks adding Garoppolo to the roster, and they each said that Garoppolo likely gives Seattle a better chance to win in 2022 than Mayfield, Lock, Smith or Eason.

Simply put, many listeners voiced their disagreement through the Seattle Sports text line as well as on Twitter.

“For whatever reason, that opinion that we expressed seemed controversial to some, they thought we were hot take guys,” Stelton said Thursday. ” … It just took off. It was just crazy.”

On Thursday, the two discussed why some fans may want other quarterbacks instead of Garoppolo. One reason may be that Garoppolo’s numbers against the Seahawks are all worse than his overall career statistics.

“For Seahawk fans, maybe this resonated with them or just in the back of their mind they thought about it because Garoppolo has not had good games against the Seahawks,” Wyman said.

For instance, Garoppolo is 1-5 against the Seahawks as a starting quarterback with a 5-5 touchdown-interception ratio while completing roughly 64% of his passes with a passer rating of 85.4. For his career, Garoppolo has a 33-14 record with 71 touchdowns to 38 interceptions while completing nearly 68% of his passes with a 98.9 passer rating.

“A lot of the fans that were reacting passionately may just be reacting to what did he look like when they watched him (play the Seahawks),” Stelton said. “They’re not watching every 49ers game, they’re not watching everything else he’s done outside of playing the Seahawks. So you look at it that way, OK, I get it. That’s fair, because he has not looked great against the Seahawks. But he’s done very well against the rest of the league and other teams, and well enough to get to a Super Bowl (in 2019).”

Stelton said that when it comes to Garoppolo, it’s all about managing his limitations.

“He’s not an elite quarterback. Nobody’s saying that,” he said. “He’s just again, in our opinion, the best of the bunch in that hypothetical scenario. But he’s good enough if you use him the right way and you don’t ask him to do too much and throw outside the numbers and throw on the on the run. Use what he does well and emphasize that the way (49ers head coach Kyle) Shanahan did, and you’ve got a situation where you can win games with that guy.”

Wyman, a longtime NFL linebacker, thinks Garoppolo “knows who he is,” which is “really important” for a quarterback.

“I don’t think Baker Mayfield knows who he is. The three guys that they have, (they) haven’t really proven it, right?” Wyman said. “… To me, if you look at would you rather have (Garoppolo) or Baker Mayfield, like I’ve said, Baker is going to want to get paid and he’s going (to think), ‘I’m going to be the franchise guy here for a long time.’ … Jimmy knows that he’s not going to be that guy.”

Listen to the full first hour of Thursday’s Wyman and Bob at this link or in the player below.

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