If Jimmy Garoppolo lost his smile in Las Vegas -- or any point before -- he's found it in Los Angeles.
For the veteran quarterback, it's been a breath of fresh Southern California air joining the Los Angeles Rams and working under head coach Sean McVay.
"This place allows you to be yourself, too, which is different than other places I've been," Garoppolo said, via The Athletic’s Jeff Howe. "You're getting pressed with a sense of urgency but in a good way. Obviously, everyone wants to win. Everyone wants to perform well. They do it in the right way here. They push you positively. There's just a lot of good things going on, man. I'm enjoying every bit of it. Even the meetings are a good time. Everything is going good right now."
Garoppolo arrived this offseason after an unruly year with the Las Vegas Raiders in which he signed a free-agent contract to rejoin his former offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels. However, Garoppolo had to have offseason foot surgery before embarking on his QB1 duties with the Raiders. He struggled mightily, though, and was benched on the same day that McDaniels was fired.
Now he's bound for the fourth team of his NFL career, having been drafted by the New England Patriots to be Tom Brady's understudy and likely heir apparent. He was then traded to the San Francisco 49ers where he won far more than he lost, helped the squad to a Super Bowl appearance and dealt with a litany of injuries.
Garoppolo has more drama ahead, or at least to deal with, as he's suspended for the first two games of his first season with the Rams. It's a suspension that Garoppolo said came after he messed up a therapeutic use exemption.
As for right now, Garoppolo is the backup for Matthew Stafford with the Rams and he's having fun in the here and now. There's less pressure and he's removed from the spotlight of a starter.
In the decade-long rollercoaster that's been his career, Garoppolo's enjoying somewhat of a respite.
"It was chaotic at times, but they're all learning experiences," Garoppolo said of his recent years, which included arriving and leaving Las Vegas after an unpredictable final couple years in San Francisco. "That's one thing I've taken from this. The NFL is crazy, man. Everyone has got a story. Everyone is going whichever way trying to make it. But at the end of the day, it's your story, and you've got to make the best of it. Good, bad, or indifferent, whatever happened in the past, it happened. … Now I'm here, and I'm just trying to make every day the best day."
There are plenty of changes Garoppolo's taking in, but perhaps of most significance is his health.
"It's really nice having a healthy offseason," Garoppolo said. "I haven't had one of those in a while. The foot surgery was tough last year. For anyone who's ever been through that, that wasn't a fun recovery, but I feel like I'm back to myself."
Indeed, on his trip from Vegas to L.A., Garoppolo's found the grin that perhaps he was missing.
"Being in this role, I get to experiment with some things, being with the No. 2s," he said. "I get to be myself. I haven't had that in a little while, so it feels nice to get back to that."
