Background and career
James Garoppolo (born November 2, 1991) is an American professional football quarterback. Nicknamed "Jimmy G", he played college football for the Eastern Illinois Panthers, winning the Walter Payton Award in 2013 and setting school records for career passing yards and passing touchdowns. Garoppolo was selected in the second round of the 2014 NFL draft by the New England Patriots, where he spent his first four seasons as Tom Brady's backup and was a member of two Super Bowl-winning teams. Traded to the San Francisco 49ers near the end of the 2017 season, Garoppolo helped revitalize a 1–10 team by winning the last five games of the year. His most successful year was in 2019 when he guided the 49ers to their conference's top seed and an appearance in Super Bowl LIV. Garoppolo also helped lead them to an NFC Championship Game appearance in the 2021 season. However, his San Francisco tenure was afflicted by injuries, which caused him to miss most of the 2018 and 2020 seasons. After suffering another season-ending injury in 2022, Garoppolo spent the following year with the Las Vegas Raiders and his next two as a backup with the Los Angeles Rams.
Garoppolo was born and raised in Arlington Heights, Illinois. He is the third of four sons born to Denise (née Malec) and Tony Garoppolo Sr., a retired electrician. His older brothers are Tony Jr., an architect; Mike, a teacher; and his younger brother is Billy. Garoppolo is from a "tight-knit, big Italian family"; his paternal grandparents, Anthony and Rose Garoppolo, were both Italian immigrants, while his maternal grandparents, Theodore J. Malec and Harriet D. Seidel, were of Polish and German descent, respectively. Garoppolo attended Rolling Meadows High School in Rolling Meadows, Illinois, where he was a quarterback and linebacker for the Mustangs football team. Garoppolo played in 19 games at quarterback during his junior and senior seasons, and passed for 3,136 yards and 25 touchdowns. As a teenager, Garoppolo was an acquaintance of future right-wing political activist and media personality Charlie Kirk, who was two years younger than Garoppolo and a quarterback at a nearby Wheeling High School, and both took part in the former NFL quarterback Jeff Christensen quarterback and wide receiver training program called Throw It Deep, with a clip of Garoppolo and Kirk throwing footballs side by side later went viral online in 2026. In addition to football, Garoppolo was also a pitcher for Rolling Meadows, stating: "Baseball was my first love when I was a little kid." A two-star recruit, he accepted an offer to play football at Eastern Illinois over offers from Illinois State and Montana State.
Garoppolo played football for the Eastern Illinois Panthers from 2010 to 2013. As a freshman, he started eight games, passing for 1,639 yards and 14 touchdowns and earning All-Ohio Valley Conference Newcomer Team honors playing under head coach Bob Spoo. Garoppolo went on to start every remaining game during his time at Eastern Illinois, passing for 2,644 yards and 20 touchdowns as a sophomore, 3,823 yards and 31 touchdowns as a junior, and 5,050 yards and 53 touchdowns as a senior, breaking the school record for career pass completions previously held by former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo. In 2013, Garoppolo, playing his senior season in head coach Dino Babers's up-tempo no-huddle offense, won the Walter Payton Award, given to the most outstanding offensive player in the Division I Football Championship Subdivision. He was also named the 2013–14 OVC Male Athlete of the Year and the 2013 College Football Performance FCS National Quarterback of the Year.
Represented by Don Yee, Garoppolo was considered one of the better quarterback prospects for the 2014 NFL draft.
The New England Patriots selected Garoppolo in the second round (62nd overall) of the draft. He was the first player from the Football Championship Subdivision drafted in 2014, and the highest-drafted quarterback the Patriots had selected since Drew Bledsoe was picked first overall in 1993. On June 2, 2014, Garoppolo signed a four-year, $3,483,898 contract with $1,103,744 guaranteed and an $853,744 signing bonus. During Week 4 against the Kansas City Chiefs, Garoppolo made his NFL debut in the fourth quarter of the 41–14 road loss. Garoppolo led the Patriots on a scoring drive, which led to his first NFL touchdown on a 13-yard pass to tight end Rob Gronkowski on his first drive. Garoppolo finished the game completing six of seven passes for 70 yards and the aforementioned touchdown, posting a passer rating of 147.9. As a rookie, Garoppolo played in six games. He completed 19 of 27 passes for 182 yards and a touchdown with a 101.2 passer rating and had 10 carries for nine yards. While Garoppolo did not take any snaps in the Patriots' Super Bowl XLIX victory, he was credited with helping to prepare the Patriots' defense for Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson.
In 2015, Garoppolo appeared in five games in relief roles. He completed one of four passes for six yards and a 39.6 passer rating.
