Laken Tomlinson’s joke highlights nature of criticism about Jimmy Garoppolo

There’s been no shortage of criticism of 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo after a lackluster showing in the final minutes of Super Bowl LIV put him under a microscope heading into the offseason.

Question marks about Garoppolo’s future with the club grew when reports surfaced that free agent quarterback Tom Brady wanted to play in San Francisco. Garoppolo’s teammates haven’t hesitated to throw their support behind him, and offensive lineman Laken Tomlinson after Monday’s practice had some fun with a question about the signal caller.

“How dare you doubt my dude like that?” Tomlinson said via Cam Inman of the Bay Area News Group. “Are you crazy? That’s my dog right there. Jimmy is a leader to all of us out there. It’s all nonsense, honestly.”

While the exchange in writing comes across as harsh, Eric Branch of the San Francisco Chronicle clarified that Tomlinson was smiling during the quote. The Sacramento Bee’s Chris Biderman provided further context. “The question was about how teammates react to criticism of Garoppolo,” he tweeted. “Tomlinson was light hearted about it and gave a funny answer.”

Ultimately questions about Garoppolo’s viability as a franchise quarterback are going to linger until the 49ers win a Super Bowl. His workload was limited in the two playoff games prior to the Super Bowl where he faltered down the stretch.

While he played well in the regular season, national conversations aren’t likely to revolve around the finer details of his performances. Despite the fact he completed 69% of his throws last season, finished third in yards per attempt, seventh in touchdown rate and took a team to the Super Bowl in his first full season as a starter — those concerns about his long-term viability remained.

Tomlinson’s answer may have been playful, but a lot of truth is said in jest. A good teammate is going to defend the quarterback no matter what, but a team coming off a Super Bowl loss constantly having to see some people peg their chances of winning on one player’s shoulders is probably frustrating.

There’s an opportunity for Garoppolo to silence a lot of those critics this season. If he maintains his efficiency while cutting down turnovers with an uptick in workload — he’ll help his standing and push some of the criticism of the club to other spots. For now it lies with Garoppolo though because that’s the nature of the NFL discourse whether his teammates like it or not.