The San Francisco 49ers first win with Jimmy Garoppolo starting at quarterback had everybody in the 49ers locker room fired up. However, 49ers players were not the only ones fired up by his strong performance on Sunday. According to New England Patriots beat writer Jeff Howe, Garoppolo’s former teammates were excited as well. Hat tip to Mertons_merkin and Germinator for pointing this out

The Patriots played at the same time as the 49ers, beating the Buffalo Bills 23-3. When Howe went into the locker room for post-game media availability, the first thing he heard from players and coaches was that they were excited Garoppolo won his first start for the 49ers.

You hear plenty of rumors about how a player is viewed in a locker room, and since the 49ers acquisition of Garoppolo, we’ve only heard positive things from the Patriots. This only serves to further confirm the respect Garoppolo had in the Patriots locker room. It certainly does not guarantee he will turn into the 49ers franchise quarterback, but the intangibles are there.

Intangibles are inherently unmeasurable, but seeing things like only serve to further increase my optimism about Jimmy Garoppolo as the 49ers quarterback. Through one month, he seems to have gained the respect of his teammates, and a solid performance on Sunday in his starting debut only further improves that. Seeing that Patriots players and coaches were pumped to hear he won only makes me more excited!