Most of us had a hunch that Jimmy Garoppolo would live up to the hype in San Francisco, but none of us knew for certain. Except for Cassius Marsh, of course.

The former Patriots defensive end who joined the 49ers midseason and signed a two-year extension this offseason claimed during a recent interview with The San Francisco Chronicle's Eric Branch that he was the first one to know about Garoppolo's greatness. Why? Because Marsh used to see it in practice all the time. According to Marsh, Garoppolo would shred the Patriots' first-team defense just like Tom Brady.

From the interview:

Marsh: "Jimmy G. (Garoppolo) came in -- I already knew that was going to happen. I called it before anybody."

You mean you knew he was going to be traded, or that he was going to play well?

Marsh: "I knew (he was going to play well) because I was with the Patriots and he would shred our defense every day. He'd shred the first team every day, and it looked no different than when Tom (Brady) was on the field. He's a much better athlete than Tom; he's super disciplined and works hard. I'm very happy to have him as my quarterback."

Who could've guessed that Garoppolo looked good against a Patriots defense that ranked 31st in DVOA and 29th overall (by yards)?

In all seriousness, while Garoppolo's success against a bad Patriots defense shouldn't be surprising, it does demonstrate just how fortunate the 49ers were to get him at a sensible price. After refusing to bite on trade offers last offseason, the Patriots reportedly could've gotten one of the Browns' first-round picks for Garoppolo a few days before the deadline, which seems like a more than fair compensation for a quarterback who eventually led the downtrodden 49ers to a 5-0 record after he became the starter. Instead, the Patriots didn't listen to the Browns' offers and settled for a second-round pick from the 49ers at the trade deadline. 

Pretty much everyone on the planet expected Garoppolo, based on his small sample of work filling in for Brady during the Deflategate suspension, to be a good NFL quarterback. It's not like Bill Belichick didn't see the same thing that Marsh saw at practice all the time. According to ESPN's Seth Wickersham, Belichick didn't want to trade Garoppolo, but was forced by team owner Robert Kraft to make a deal. In that sense, Belichick probably knew long before Marsh that Garoppolo was likely to turn into a good NFL quarterback. 

From Wickersham's story for ESPN, which was published in early January:

Two weeks before the Nov. 1 trading deadline, Belichick met with Kraft to discuss the quarterback situation. According to staffers, the meeting ran long, lasting half the day and pushing back Belichick's other meetings. The office was buzzing. The meeting ended with a clear mandate to Belichick: trade Garoppolo because he would not be in the team's long-term plans, and then, once again, find the best quarterback in the draft and develop him. Belichick was furious and demoralized, according to friends. But in the end, he did what he asks of his players and coaches: He did his job. One morning in late October, Belichick texted San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan and asked him to call. Belichick had long admired Kyle's father, Mike, who not only had been one of the NFL's smartest tacticians but had also personally defended Belichick to commissioner Roger Goodell during the Spygate scandal. At the combine this past February, Kyle, weeks into the 49ers job after being the offensive coordinator for the Falcons, met with Belichick for hours to learn from his team's humiliating Super Bowl loss. Belichick believed that Garoppolo would excel under Shanahan, and when he and Shanahan connected on the phone, Belichick offered the quarterback for a second-rounder.

It was a steal, leaving Patriots staffers stunned and confused.

The Patriots are still in good hands given that Brady, 40, has shown no signs of slowing down and seems to be willing to continue his career for a few more seasons, but their future looks a lot less secure after losing Garoppolo. Keeping and paying both quarterbacks would've been unfeasible, so the Patriots didn't have much of a choice in the matter. It just seems strange that they settled for a second-round pick without listening to other offers.

The 49ers certainly didn't mind. After seeing Garoppolo's five-game winning streak at the end of the season, they handed him a monster five-year contract. Mainly due to Garoppolo's presence -- but also due to the growing talent level in other areas of the roster -- the 49ers are likely to be everyone's favorite playoff sleeper in 2018. But to get the 49ers back to the playoffs, Garoppolo will have to do more than beat up on the Patriots' subpar defense during practice. He'll be forced to overcome the Los Angeles Rams and their stacked defense.