Garoppolo believed he was better than Brady

Sitting behind Tom Brady, perhaps the greatest quarterback ever, would likely diminish the confidence of most players. But Jimmy Garoppolo is apparently not like most players.

Garoppolo opened up about his three-and-a-half seasons backing up the Patriots' five-time Super Bowl champion in an in-depth interview with Bleacher Report's Joone Lee. The 26-year-old said he arrived in New England with the mindset that he could beat out Brady for the starting job.

"I knew that (Brady) was better than me in my first day in the NFL," said Garoppolo. "Naturally, you're the rookie and he's the veteran, but you have to have that mindset, that you want to be the starter."

"Even when I was a little kid, my brothers, whenever we would play, I would literally always think I was going to win. I wouldn't, but I would always think that. It's like when I go to New England, when I first got there, I thought in my head, 'I'm better than this dude.'"

Asked if he truly believed he was the superior player, Garoppolo said that "it was always a quiet confidence." But when pressed further, Garoppolo added: "Yeah, you believe in yourself. That's the best way to put it."

Of course, just like when every quarterback in the draft says they're the best in the class, Garoppolo is unlikely to admit he felt inferior to Brady. Still, it speaks to Garoppolo's mental fortitude that he wasn't intimidated by going head-to-head in practice with an NFL legend.

And now that Garoppolo has escaped Brady's shadow and is set for his first full season as the San Francisco 49ers' starter, he can attempt to prove his confidence wasn't misplaced.