In his first five starts for the woeful San Francisco 49ers, Jimmy Garoppolo reminded NFL fans just how important talent and leadership at the quarterback position really is. It’s clear that he has the potential to be the future of the franchise, and they’ll no doubt spend this off-season doing their best to make sure that’s exactly what happens.

Still, how much better is Garoppolo than the talent they had at the position in 2016? While it seems like a lifetime ago at this point, Colin Kaepernick was once the future of the 49ers franchise too – and he had a Super Bowl appearance and two NFC Championships solidifying his resume.

Is a five-game win streak at the end of a lost season really more valuable than the potential Kaepernick showed when his team had the personnel and coaching to succeed? How much has Garoppolo done in comparison to the 49ers former heir-apparent to earn such high praise so early on?

It’s not that there aren’t plenty of reasons to believe that Garoppolo is great, however it’s definitely not his production on the field that separates him — because Colin Kaepernick was just as good, if not a little better, in his last five full games for the 49ers.

Colin Kaepernick last five full games in 2016:

64.6 completion percentage on 164 attempts

1,093 passing yards for 9 TD, 2 INT and passer rating of 96.9

27 rushes for 188 yards and 1 TD

Jimmy Garoppolo last five full games in 2017:

67.1 completion percentage on 176 attempts

1,542 passing yards for 6 TD, 5 INT and passer rating of 94.0

14 rushes for 7 yards and 1 TD

Perhaps it’s the fact that he was under Tom Brady’s tutelage for years and possesses the same confident charm and handsome all-American looks. Maybe it’s just because it’s hard to ignore a one-win team suddenly emerging from the depths of despair to breath some life back into their fan base.

It’s exciting to watch, especially when you look to the north and see Russell Wilson and Pete Carroll and to the south to see Jared Goff and Sean McVay. Add Garoppolo and Kyle Shanahan into the mix, and all of the sudden the NFC West is the most exciting division in football again.

Still, there are a few qualifiers worth making if we’re to assess these quarterbacks and their situations as objectively as possible.

Related Video of Jimmy Garoppolo going full Tom Brady has NFL fans so excited

Garoppolo entered those games with no pressure to save the team or their season. Essentially, all of his starts were in garbage time. Meanwhile, Kaepernick was playing under immense stress brought on by the scrutiny of a nation full of people who all seemed to have an opinion about the kind of football player he was, the kind of person he was and the kind of American he was.

He was already realizing his time in San Francisco was coming to an end. After all, Kaepernick had watched that very franchise give up on a 44-19-1 head coach who’d led the team to a Super Bowl two seasons prior. If Jim Harbaugh hadn’t been worth their time and aggravation, by the end of last season, Kaep would’ve been crazy to think he would be.

Those were the circumstances he was dealing with – one of the most toxic environments in the NFL – when he put together 9 passing touchdowns to 2 interceptions in his final five games.

If Kaepernick had played his last two NFL seasons under a decent head coach rather than Jim Tomsula (now a defensive line coach in Washington) and Chip Kelly (now back in college football where he belongs), would he have been able to win those five games against the Bears, Texans, Titans, Jaguars and the Rams’ backups? Of course he could have. The evidence is all there.

When the team and the coaching was great, so was Kaepernick. And when the team had given up on him and on themselves, he was still pretty damned good. It’s insulting to pretend like the 49ers were the Browns or the Texans, suffering mercilessly while bad quarterbacks cycled through their starting lineup like the world’s crappiest parade. They needed better general managing and a real head coach, not a new QB.

I’m as happy as anyone to see Garoppolo succeed, and by all accounts, he deserves it — but so did Colin Kaepernick.

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