Jimmy Garoppolo has the opportunity of a lifetime this season

Jimmy Garoppolo finds himself in a good situation.

He can prepare all offseason as if he’ll be the New England Patriots’ starting quarterback for the first four games of the season, thanks to Tom Brady’s deflate-gate suspension. He prepared all last offseason for the same opportunity, only to have a court overturn Brady’s four-game ban at the last minute. But Garoppolo still had a chance to get used to the feeling of being a starter.

Maybe Brady finds a court to overturn his suspension again, though that seems unlikely. Garoppolo is probably going to be the Patriots’ starter to begin this season, and it’s an opportunity that could pay off in a huge way for him.

Think about Brock Osweiler, who was looking at the possibility of going into free agency with almost no regular-season snaps on tape. But Peyton Manning got hurt, Osweiler showed enough in seven starts with the Denver Broncos last season to get a $72 million deal from the Houston Texans, and now he’s their starter. It’s easy to see Garoppolo, who was a second-round pick drafted to sit behind a legend just like Osweiler was, following a similar path. The Patriots already seem to be preparing for just that, having drafted N.C. State quarterback Jacoby Brissett in the third round of this year’s draft.

Here is the optimistic plan for New England: Garoppolo plays well in four games, the Patriots flip him for a high draft pick, Brissett is then groomed to be Brady’s possible successor, Garoppolo signs a huge extension with his new team, and everyone wins.

Can it happen that easily? Perhaps. Garoppolo has played well in the preseason, for whatever that’s worth. He seems to have the skills to run the Patriots’ offense just fine, and he’ll have a great team around him. His play will be compared to how Brady does upon his return (Osweiler didn’t deal with that because he was compared to 2015 Peyton Manning, which ended up being favorable), but it’s easy to see Garoppolo playing well, the Patriots winning a few games and a desperate team talking themselves into investing in him. It’s an incredible opportunity for Garoppolo, assuming he doesn’t have the rug pulled out from underneath him again.

Here’s what Garoppolo faces, in terms of New England’s first four opponents, and a glance at what he’s done in his limited playing time: