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Midway through their inaugural season as the San Francisco 49ers brain trust, freshman general manager John Lynch and rookie head coach Kyle Shanahan had to know they were going out on a limb—some might have considered it a twig—by acquiring and then eventually paying quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo.
When they gave the famously savvy New England Patriots a second-round pick in exchange for Garoppolo, he had two career starts under his belt. And when they handed the second-round Eastern Illinois product a five-year, $137.5 million contract just three months later, he had thrown just 12 career touchdown passes at the age of 26.