In 2016, the San Francisco 49ers had a quarterback-cum-social justice warrior who wore Fidel Castro T-shirts, knelt during the playing of the national anthem while the rest of his team stood — and wore socks depicting police officers as pigs.

This season, it turned out they were much better off without him.

Colin Kaepernick was released by the San Francisco 49ers prior to the 2017 NFL season after being benched twice in favor of Blaine Gabbert, going 1-10 in his 11 starts, fumbling nine times, and posting a 49.3 QBR — ranked 23rd of 30 qualified NFL quarterbacks.

While the 49ers initially struggled this season, they ended up showing on the field why they no longer need Kaepernick.

Midseason, the team released its starting quarterback, Brian Hoyer, and traded a second-round draft pick to the New England Patriots in exchange for their backup quarterback, Jimmy Garoppolo. After about a month of learning the playbook, Garoppolo earned the starting job — and the 49ers benefited big-time.

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In that span, Garoppolo took the 49ers from among the worst teams in the current NFL season to one of the hottest. After starting out slowly, they went on a five-game winning streak thanks to the success Garoppolo enjoyed. Despite their 6-10 record, they had the longest win streak of any NFL team to finish out the season.

Although he made only five starts and had two career starts before going to San Francisco (in which he went 2-0), Garoppolo proved he could be the team’s star quarterback of the future. He posted a 67.4 percent completion rate while throwing seven touchdowns with five interceptions, and posting an 80.6 QBR.

On ESPN’s QBR rankings, Garoppolo was second to only DeShaun Watson among quarterbacks who started a game this season. Garoppolo even had a higher QBR than Tom Brady (67.4).

Thanks to his strong performance, Garoppolo could get a big payday this offseason. John Lynch, the 49ers general manager, told NFL.com on Tuesday, “We want Jimmy to be a Niner for a long, long time. That process is going to take place here. We’re eager to get that done.”

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Even if Garoppolo was at the same level of play as Kaepernick, he would still be better for business than the man who started the NFL’s controversial national anthem kneeling movement. Garoppolo has not knelt for the anthem during his NFL tenure; and when he was asked for his thoughts on Kaepernick’s doing so in 2016, he did not appear to approve.

“It’s not my idea of doing the right thing,” Garoppolo told WEEI. “But it’s his personal opinion, I guess. You’ve just got to let him stand by that. But I think we have a great thing going on in this country. Everything about America — it’s a great thing. We’re all very blessed to be here — and it’s good to realize that.”

Finding a quarterback who plays at a high level and respects America is huge for the 49ers as they try to re-establish their credibility.

NFL television ratings have dropped by about 15 percent over the past two seasons — with national anthem protests being the top reason people are not watching, according to a JD Power poll released last July. So finding a quarterback who plays at a high level and respects America is huge for the 49ers as they try to re-establish their credibility.

Tom Joyce is a freelance writer from the South Shore of Massachusetts. He covers sports, pop culture, and politics and has contributed to The Federalist, Newsday, ESPN, and other outlets.