Jimmy Garoppolo was supposed to be the man to take over the reigns of the New England Patriots once Tom Brady retired…until he wasn’t.
After Garoppolo was surpassingly traded to the San Francisco 49ers, bits and pieces of information began to emerge hinting that the relationship between the backup and his starter wasn’t the healthiest.
Bleacher Report released a piece today detailing Garoppolo’s take on the situation and his tenure in New England, revealing that not only did he think he was ready, he thought he was better than Tom Brady.
Garoppolo noted that when he first got to New England, he had “quiet confidence” in himself and one thought in his head: “I’m better than this dude.”
And, while he wouldn’t always verbalize that feeling, it didn’t change after developing “a healthy, competitive relationship” with Brady.
“I’m not stupid,” he said. “You have to pick your battles, but I had belief in myself that I could do certain things, and it’s always worked out pretty well. It will always be in me, that drive that comes from my dad telling me that someone is always working harder, that I’m always in last place and I need to catch up to someone else.”
Garoppolo even mentioned that the two wanted to “kill each other” at times due to the competition.
You can read the full Bleacher Report piece HERE.
