Jimmy Garoppolo isn’t often mentioned alongside Johnny Manziel, Teddy Bridgewater and Blake Bortles as a first-round quarterback. But one former NFL general manager thinks he should be.
Bill Polian said on ESPN that Garoppolo, who played his college football at Eastern Illinois, will be a first-round pick.
Garoppolo won the Walter Payton Award as the best player in FCS and led the FCS in passing with 5,050 yards. He turned heads at the East-West Shrine Game and the Senior Bowl, and he said at the Combine that he hoped to turn heads in Indianapolis as well.
“The exposure really helps a small school guy like me,” Garoppolo said. “It’s tough for us to get our names out there. We’re not always on ESPN and on TV and everything like that, so every little bit of exposure like that helps me and helps get my name out there. Playing well in both the games really helped me too.”
The exposure Polian is giving Garoppolo may help, too. Then again, Polian thinking a player is a first-round pick doesn’t necessarily mean much. Polian also thought Jerry Hughes was a first-round pick.