MIAMI, Fla. -- Before Jimmy Garoppolo became one of the highest-paid quarterbacks in the NFL and led the 49ers to Super LIV in Miami, he was just a quarterback from Eastern Illinois University hoping for a chance.
As the NFL draft approached in 2014, Kyle Shanahan was just an offensive coordinator for the Cleveland Browns, who desperately needed a quarterback.
Their paths crossed then, as Shanahan drove up to Northwestern University to work out the young signal-caller. But Shanahan didn't spend his time in Evanston, Ill., as a spectator to the Jimmy G show. Instead, he became a key participant.
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Due to a lack of wide receivers, Shanahan, a former receiver at Duke and Texas, had to catch balls from Garoppolo and got a first-hand account of the quarterback's arm talent.
"I remember, they didn't have a lot of receivers show up, so I had to do some of the routes," Shanahan told the media Tuesday about the 2014 workout. "Which was frustrating because he threw it too hard and I didn't have gloves and I remember the next few days my hands were purple. But I feel like I caught most of them. So, the workout was great and then going out to dinner later that night and just getting to hang out with him -- very simple, very humble.
"When you spend a night with someone, especially through the draft process and they come off the way he does, man, what's the guy hiding? He's so relaxed and such a good dude. I've been with him for about three years and he's no different from that first night."
As impressed as Shanahan was with Garoppolo that day, his now quarterback was equally wowed by his coach's hands.
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“Kyle was snagging passes, no gloves needed," Garoppolo said when asked about the workout. "So it was pretty impressive, bringing him back to his receiver days.”
Shanahan went back to Cleveland but, in total Browns fashion, they neglected to pick the QB that had been slinging the pill to their OC.
Instead, they took Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel with the No. 22 overall pick. Shanahan would leave Cleveland the following season and spend two seasons with the Atlanta Falcons before being hired to turn around the 49ers.
[RELATED: How Alex Smith helped develop Mahomes during rookie season]
Garoppolo heard his name called 40 selections later when Bill Belichick drafted him to be the heir apparent to Tom Brady. Three seasons later, with Brady still torching defenses and winning Super Bowls, Belichick called up Shanahan and traded Garoppolo to the 49ers for a second-round pick, choosing to send the young quarterback to a situation Belichick believed would be beneficial for Garoppolo.
As usual, Belichick was correct. Once Garoppolo was given the starting job near the end of the 2017 season, he and Shanahan had instant success, leading to a lucrative long-term contract and now a Super Bowl berth.
Shanahan's offensive ingenuity and Garoppolo's resiliency make them a pairing that appears built to last.
Five years, three teams, one trade and a pair of purple hands later, that formula now has Shanahan and Garoppolo one win away from Super Bowl immortality.
Programming note: NBC Sports Bay Area feeds your hunger for 49ers Super Bowl coverage with special editions of “49ers Central” all week (8 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, and 3 p.m. Saturday).
Also tune in at 1 p.m. on Super Bowl Sunday for a two-hour special of "49ers Pregame Live" with Laura Britt, Donte Whitner, Jeff Garcia, Ian Williams, Kelli Johnson, Greg Papa and Grant Liffmann. That same crew will have all the postgame reaction on "49ers Postgame Live," starting immediately after the game.
