At some point, everybody here in New England needs to get over Jimmy Garoppolo.
He’s in San Francisco. And he’s not coming back.
The funny thing is, even if he was still a Patriot, he would still be Tom Brady’s backup in 2018.
If you’re still obsessed with Garoppolo, then you probably hate that I point out Brady’s dominance at the age of 40. You probably hate that Brady’s team is the favorite to win Super Bowl LIII in Atlanta on Feb. 3. You probably hate that, throughout all the drama, the Patriots are still the cream of the crop.
And if you hate all that, then you should probably just move to San Francisco.
Look, I’ll be the first to admit that Brady has been acting like an absolute weirdo lately. His absence at voluntary workouts didn’t help reel in someone like Rob Gronkowski during his cryptic message-filled offseason. But Training Camp officially begins this week, and both Brady and Gronkowski are expected to be there.
Which begs the question: When will everyone stop talking about Garoppolo?
If the Patriots and 49ers play each other this season, it will have to be in the Super Bowl. That brings me back to what I’ve always said is the beauty of the Garoppolo trade. Sure, the Patriots only got a second-round pick for Garoppolo — but I mean, something tells me Belichick would read that sentence and get annoyed.
I could see him asking, “Only?”
I’m convinced he would react like that. Whatever. My point is, the value of sending Garoppolo to an NFC team shouldn’t be overlooked as much as it is around these parts.
The example I always use is Aaron Rodgers. As great as Rodgers has been in his 10-year career as a starter for Green Bay, exactly how many times have the Patriots had to worry about the Packers, in their quest for more Super Bowls?
In order to answer that question, you probably have to Google how many times the Patriots and Packers have played each other in the regular season over the last decade, which should tell you everything you need to know about the value of sending Garoppolo to the NFC.
Nobody is saying that Belichick didn’t like Garoppolo. I’m sure he loved him, even if he wasn’t sending those reported text messages to the 49ers QB after each of his wins with San Fran.
But as we sit here and dissect every new feature story that keeps coming out about the Garoppolo trade, the more I side with what Belichick said to reporters on Wednesday at Gillette Stadium, when he was asked about those text messages.
“I’m not going to engage in stuff that’s happened eight months ago,” said Belichick. “We could talk about a million things that happened 20 years ago. I’m not there.”
Neither am I.
It’s time to move on from Jimmy G, and stop acting like the Patriots chose a mediocre quarterback over him. They chose to stick with the greatest quarterback of all time, who also happens to be the reigning NFL MVP.
What does Garoppolo have to do with this year’s Patriots team? Absolutely nothing, unless they meet in the Super Bowl. But you have to get there first.
The good news is, Garoppolo can’t do anything to interfere with the Patriots’ road to Atlanta. And Brady has a better chance of getting there than Garoppolo does.
So get over it.
Listen to “The Danny Picard Show” at dannypicard.com. Follow him on Twitter @DannyPicard.
