30 Astonishing Things About Jimmy Garoppolo We Think Every Fan Should Know

23 March 2019, 10:21 am EDT By Ruby Karnick

Jimmy Garoppolo, currently the quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League, was the winner of the Walter Payton Award as the best offensive player in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) in the year 2013. Here are some really interesting things to know about the American footballer:

He was born James Richard Garoppolo on November 02, 1991, in Arlington Heights, in Illiinois, United States, to Denise, a chef and Tony Garoppolo, an electrician. He has two older brothers, Mike and Tony Jr. and a younger brother, Billy.
He is from tight-knit, big Italian family. Garoppolo paternal grandfather may have been Anthony Garoppolo, who was the son of Rose and Anthony Garoppolo who were both Italian immigrants. His maternal grandparents were Theodore J. Malec and Harriet D. Seidel.
He attended Westgate Elementary and South Middle schoolsin Arlington Heights and later he went to Rolling Meadows High School in Rolling Meadows. In high school he played baseball as a pitcher and a running back in junior high school. He didn’t start as quarterback until his throwing proves earned him as an injury replacement in practice and the rest is history from there.
Garoppolo played 19 games at quarterback during his junior and senior seasons, passing for 3,136 yards and 25 touchdowns. Thanks to a fortunate connection, he caught the attention of Eastern Illinois offensive coordinator Roy Wittke.
From 2010 to 2013, Garoppolo, played football for the Eastern Illinois Panthers. In his rookie year, he started eight games passing for 1,639 yards and 14 touchdowns and earning All-Ohio Valley Conference Newcomer Team honors.
He won the ‘Walter Payton Award,’ the FCS version of the Heisman, for the year 2013. He is the second Eastern Illinois University player to win the award since 2002. He threw for an NCAA-best 5,050 yards and 52 touchdowns this season, which broke EIU season and career records previously held by Tony Romo.
He started all 11 games of his sophomore season, and the comparison to former Eastern Illinois star Tony room began. Garoppolo passed for 2644 yards and 20 touchdowns as a sophomore. His individual performance didn’t reflect on the teams result with Panthers finishing 2-9.
As a junior he spent his offseason in the weight room which not only brought about his physical maturity but also transformed his game. He was extremely impressive for his 3,823 passing yards and 31 touchdowns. The Panthers improved from two straight seasons to 7-5 campaign and an Ohio Valley Conference title.
Garoppolo was selected as the Ohio Valley Conference’s male athlete of the year for 2013-14 and the 2013 College Football Performance FCS National Quarterback of the year.
He was drafted in by the New England Patriots in the second round of 2014 NFL Draft, as the 62nd overall pick. He signed a four-year contract worth $3,483,898 with an $853,744 signing bonus.He was first player from the Football Championship subdivision and the highest drafted quarterback since Drew Bledsoe in 1993.

On September 29, 2014, Garoppolo, made his regular season debut against Kansas City Chiefs. He made his first career passing touchdown on a 13-yard pass to tight end Rob Gronkowski on his first drive. He recorded six of seven passes for 70 yards and one touchdown, with a passer rating of 147.9.
He ended his rookie season playing in six games and completed 19 of 27 passes for 182 yards and a touchdown with a 101.2 passer rating apart from 10 rushing attempts for 9 yards. He played his part in the Patriot’s victory in the Super Bowl by helping the defense to face Seahawks quarterback.
In the 2015 season he appeared in five games more as a substitute. He completed 1 of 4 passes for six yards in the season.
He made his first start since staring at Eastern Illinois in the game against Arizona Cardinals on September 11, after Tom Brady was suspended for four games for Deflategate. He completed 24 of 33 passes for 264 yards and a touchdown in a 23 to 21 victory over Cardinals.
On September 18, 2016, he completed 18 of 26 passes for 232 yards and three touchdowns against the Miami Dolphins, in week 2 game which the Patriots won with 31 to 24 score line.
In the game against Dolphins, Garoppolo, was sidelined with shoulder injury. He sprained his AC joints after he was hit by Dolphins’ linebacker Kiko Alonso that sidelined him for next two games.
In the 2017 off season, he was the subject of several trade rumors. It was speculated that either Chicago Bears or Cleveland Browns were the likely destination but ultimately nothing materialized and Garoppolo remained with Patriots.
In October 2017, the Patriots traded Garoppolo to the San Francisco 49ers in exchange for a 2018 NFL Draft second round pick. Brian Hoyer was originally included in the Garoppolo deal, but was taken out of the deal because of compensatory pick reasons.
As Garoppolo was on the Patriots’ roster for eight games before he was traded to the 49ers, an NFC team, he was eligible for payments from the league based on Patriots performances. He earned $ 107,000, as Patriots reached Super Bowl LII.
On November 26, 2017 he made his debut with San Francisco 49ers in a match against Seattle Seahawks, after the regular quarterback, C.J. Beathard was injured. He rushed for six yards and threw a 10 yard touchdown, completing both pass attempts for 18 yards and a touchdown.

On December 03, he made the starting eleven for the 49ers, against Chicago Bears. He finished with 293 passing yards and an interception in a narrow victory score line of 15-14 for 49ers.
In the next two games against Texans and Titans, he had creditable performances in helping 49ers earn its third win of the season. He recorded 334 passing yards, one touchdown and one interception for a winning cause in week 14 and the 381 passing yards against Titans was his personal season high.
In week 16, Garoppolo led his franchise to its fourth straight wins when he recorded 242 passing yards, two touchdowns, one interception, and his first career rushing touchdown against one of the NFL’s stingiest defenses for a close 25-23 victory.
On December 31, 2017, he improved to 5-0 as the 49ers starter by completing 20 of 33 for 292 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions against Los Angeles Rams. With this win Garoppolo also became the first quarterback to go 7-0 in his first seven games started since Ben Roethlisberger in 2004.
He finished the 2017 season with 1,560 passing yards, seven passing touchdowns, five interceptions, eleven rushing yards, and one rushing touchdowns. With Garoppolo under center, the 49ers scored on 62 percent of their offensive drives, 11 percent more than the second placed team.
On February 08, 2018, the 49ers and Garoppolo agreed to terms on a five year contract worth a maximum of $137.5 million. At the time of signing, it was the largest contract in NFL history on an annual basis.
On April 30, 2018, his peers voted him as the 90th best player in the league on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2018 for his first appearance in the list.
On September 23, 2018, in the 49ers’ week third game against Kansas City Chiefs, Garoppolo finished with 251 passing yards before leaving the game with a left knee injury. It was later revealed he tore his ACL prematurely ending his season.
In August 2018, Garoppolo signed an endorsement deal with Jordan’s signature brand. When his time came he wanted to be part of Jordan brand and it was one of his first-non football related goals. In addition he also has endorsement deal with New Era and Bose.
On July 19, 2018, was seen with an adult film star named Kiara Mia at a high-end Greek restaurant. The reaction to that night out opened his eyes to just how closely his every move is now being watched.