Jimmy Garoppolo: Rams allow me to be myself, unlike other places I’ve been

Jimmy Garoppolo says he’s fitting right in during his first training camp as a Ram.

Garoppolo, who is slated to be Matthew Stafford‘s backup quarterback this season, told TheAthletic.com that Stafford and Rams head coach Sean McVay were the main reasons he wanted to sign with the Rams after the Raiders cut him, and that he thinks he’s in the right place now.

“This place allows you to be yourself, too, which is different than other places I’ve been,” Garoppolo said. “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 didn’t say which places he’s been that he was referring to, but his previous stops were in New England playing for head coach Bill Belichick, in San Francisco playing for Kyle Shanahan, and in Las Vegas playing first for Josh McDaniels and then for Antonio Pierce. Garoppolo said his up-and-down career has weighed on him.

“It was chaotic at times, but they’re all learning experiences,” Garoppolo said. “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.”

Garoppolo will serve a two-game suspension at the start of the season for violating the NFL performance-enhancing substance policy, and then in Week Three he’ll take his place on the active roster, where he thinks he can be himself back in the role he was in at the start of his career, as a backup.