
Don’t let the pretty boy looks fool you. That metro style hair might look soft to the touch, that almond butter skin and dimpled chin reek of smooth. But Jimmy Garoppolo is far from soft.
His three brothers will testify to that.
Especially Tony Jr., and Mike, the older of the four Garoppolo boys. They fashioned the ruggedness beneath the modelesque veneer.
Advertisement
They were the ones who regularly gave him the business. Tony was the one who Stone Cold Stunner’d him in the living room.
“We were WWF fans at the time,” Mike, 30, said. “We definitely made our parents living room into a little ring and got after it.”
It was Mike who lit him up on the football field when he was a senior and then-freshman Jimmy was called up to practice with the varsity team to prep for playoffs.
“He wasn’t always tough, man,” Tony said as a prideful grin broke across his face. “He had to be shaped and molded. He’s fortunate to have two older brothers. We never really made it easy on him. We made him prove himself, earn everything.”
And it was Billy, the 21-year-old baby brother, currently a student at Illinois State, who felt the wrath of Garoppolo when he needed somebody to take it out on after his big brothers manhandled him. Crying to the parents wasn’t allowed.
“After they beat on him, he’d beat on me,” Billy said. “I learned if I (went and told) I would get beat up more, so I learned how to keep quiet.”
It’s that toughness that eases the worry about Garoppolo. Not so much the physical makeup but the mental fortitude. There is a hardness about Garoppolo that his brothers rave about.
They helped develop it, watched it blossom.
It has manifested into a head strong 26-year-old who they have no doubt can handle this daunting position he is now in. Judging by how much John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan were itching to give Garoppolo the keys to their franchise and this five-year, $137.5 million deal, they believe in his toughness, too.
Garoppolo is now the highest-paid player in NFL history. He has the weight of resurrecting a proud franchise on his shoulders. He has the pressure of getting players making much less money despite having much more experience to believe in him and follow him.
Advertisement
Responsibility like this has gotten the better of many before him. The expectations that come with this kind of money have gotten the better of many an athlete.
Somehow, no one is thinking this might be too much for Garoppolo. Somehow, it’s just understood he has the intangibles to thrive in this furnace.
“It always starts with talent,” Shanahan said, “but when it comes to things like this, character and who he is as a man is everything.”
Garappolo’s path to this moment has been a grind. He played defense in high school, which was about 30 miles northwest of Chicago, until a test run at quarterback his junior year changed the trajectory of his football career. Still, when he graduated in 2010, he was the 54th ranked quarterback in Illinois according to Max Preps.
He got offers from three FCS schools, per Rivals.com: Eastern Illinois, Illinois State and Montana State. The popular recruiting site had Indiana, Iowa, Northern Illinois, Purdue and Western Michigan on the list of schools that gave him a look but never offered. He chose the one school he visited — Eastern Illinois.
After four seasons, he was the fifth quarterback taken in 2014. Blake Bortles, Johnny Manziel, Teddy Bridgewater and Derek Carr went ahead of him. He might have waited much longer than the 62nd pick if Bill Belichick hadn’t seen something in him.
Garoppolo went about earning the favor of Belichick and the respect of Tom Brady, and eventually the status of heir apparent for the champion Patriots. Eventually, he had Shanahan, known for being stingy with his praise, walking into Lynch’s office declaring that they had something special at quarterback.
At every level, Garoppolo had to prove himself. Every stripe he’s ever gotten was earned with a work ethic that impresses, a passion that reverberates and a humility that attracts.
Advertisement
“Oh yeah,” Garoppolo said. “Not much is changing in that perspective.”
But this is where the toughness comes in. Because that same chip on his shoulder must stay. That love of the grind, that poise, that determination to get better, that down-to-earth disposition, he needs that now more than ever. Perhaps more of it.
The scrutiny he will face, the adversity that’s sure to come, the bar this new contract sets, just might be the greatest foe he’s faced. It’s going to test him like he doesn’t even understand.
His talent and his impact on the franchise make signing him a no-brainer. But Lynch and Shanahan were watching for the signs of what might happen after he gets the contract. Nothing they saw made them hesitate.
“For me, hey, there’s never any assurances,” Lynch said, “but there are qualities that the really good players in this league, the great players in this league, that they share. And he demonstrated a lot. Was it a short sample size? Sure. But it was convincing. … He kind of kept just checking the boxes as we were watching.”
Lynch said he saw how Garoppolo made his teammates better. He was won over by the sacrificial spirit that made sure he put his teammates first.
His training in the Four Brothers crew shined through. All those games of pickle in the backyard, makeshift tackle football, fostered a competitive spirit. Going to each other’s games, being bonded in a brotherhood since he could breathe, groomed his team-first mentality.
They all played soccer, baseball, football and basketball coming up. Garoppolo was a stud running back and linebacker for the Arlington Cowboys youth team. Mike says there is a highlight tape with proof.
While he may now be a star quarterback, potentially leading the 49ers back to glory, Jimmy can still get smacked around in H-O-R-S-E by Mike.
Advertisement
“I’ll put up that J anytime I need to,” Mike said. “Older brothers, we’ve got that wisdom. We have that edge.”
Billy will still get on the controllers and drag his superstar brother in a video game or two.
Can you imagine if the money and fame does go to Garoppolo’s head, or if his work ethic slips off, how badly he will hear it from his brothers? Think for a second Tony Jr. won’t pull his coattail?
This is what they do as brothers. They are part of why no one is doubting that Garoppolo’s got this.
(Top photo courtesy of 49ers. From left to right, the Garoppolo Brothers: Mike, Jimmy, Billy, Tony Jr.)
ncG1vNJzZmismJqutbTLnquim16YvK57kWxtbGllZH9xfZdoZ2tnYG58tbTOpqesp55itLO7zqacnWWSrnqptdJmmaunpJ2ys7%2BMo6CmpalitKK%2BzqmnqKSfYq%2Bms8inqmasmJp6o7XGoJysrF2YtaK4y56loJ1dpLNutMisZJ%2Bnn6mvorjLZpqaqpWav3A%3D