Chris Simms explains to Mike Florio how Jimmy Garoppolo landed No. 22 on his Top 40 QB Countdown, given his composure in tight situations but occasional “tropic thunder” moments.

Video Transcript

MIKE FLORIO: Next up-- and I usually don't push back on these. But at number 22, Jimmy Garoppolo, Raiders quarterback, good lord. Help me understand. Help me understand.

Handsome or not, Pete, help me understand how this guy lands at number 22 ahead of some of the guys we've already discussed?

CHRIS SIMMS: Well, I mean, man, when you watch Jimmy Garoppolo and what he did last year, he played some of his best football of his career. I mean, other than that week two-- he got thrown into a tough situation. He wasn't there in training camp, the Denver Broncos. He played pretty damn good, he really did.

When you watch it, you start to go, man, really pushing the envelope, making some high-level throws. The one thing I love about Jimmy Garoppolo-- and he is phenomenal under pressure in the pocket. He's a below average athlete. We know that. He can't run.

But like a Marino or a Brady, he's great at working the pocket and finding certain areas there, OK? And then he does not need space to throw the football. Man, the one thing that I really respect about-- like you see on some of these clips, he doesn't blink under pressure.

With people around him and about to hit him, he stands in there and makes a ton of throws into tight windows. And he can process really well, OK?

Now, within all that and those good things I said and why he is where he is-- and you know you can make a deep playoff run with Jimmy Garoppolo and get to the Super Bowl and all that. But he's always good for one "Topic Thunder" moment, as I like to call it, where you just go, man, great decision, great throw, good decision, great throw, good decision.

And then you go, what the F is he thinking right there? So that's a little bit of the frustration there. But yeah, Mike, I mean, I don't think he gets a credit he deserves a little bit.

And I'm not saying he's a superstar. But again, if we're all on the same team and I have a pecking order and I need an offense, run, and all of that, I'm going to take Jimmy Garoppolo slightly ahead of Justin Fields right now. I'm sorry about that.

MIKE FLORIO: And hey, I'm going to go back to the guy we started this with, Baker Mayfield. He was available to be signed. Jimmy Garoppolo was available to be signed. And we know that Josh McDaniels had an affinity for Baker Mayfield when he was coming out of Oklahoma in 2018. And McDaniels got to witness the magic of Mayfield on that Thursday night game when he came back. It was 16-3 late, and they came back and won.

And there was never talk about the Raiders going after Mayfield. They went straight for Jimmy Garoppolo. So McDaniels has knowledge of both, and he clearly went in the direction of Garoppolo. So we'll see. Staying healthy--

CHRIS SIMMS: That's the big thing.

MIKE FLORIO: Staying healthy is the key. That's the big knock, and also those moments that pop up at the worst possible time where he throws the ball just right to the other guy on the other team. And you're like, what the hell is this? You're never going to win anything of significance if your quarterback is going to do that in key moments.