San Francisco 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo had surgery on Wednesday for his torn ACL, and it has been nothing but optimism since the procedure. General manager John Lynch said on Thursday evening that the surgeon told him the surgery went great and there were no complications.
On Friday afternoon, head coach Kyle Shanahan offered the same report, saying he was told it went “as good as it could’ve for an ACL.” Shanahan was asked if there was a rehab timeline yet. He would not commit to exact details, but did say he hoped Garoppolo could do non-contact work in OTAs throwing the ball.
“I haven’t gotten a timeline yet. I know you guys will probably hold me to it. I’m hoping that he’ll be able to get into OTAs and do some non-contact stuff with throwing the ball and everything. It’s always a little bit better when you’re dealing with a quarterback and stuff as opposed to other positions because you can get them in hopefully in seven-on-seven drills a little bit early and things like that, which helps those guys get involved a lot faster.”
Shanahan said he was basing that off a normal timeline when the surgeon says they feel “very good about the surgery.” It’s just speculation for now, but whether Garoppolo is throwing or not when OTAs arrive, I can guarantee you there will be articles discussing the topic — including here!
But for the time being, the important news is that surgery went well and things are looking good moving forward. In my mind, the start of training camp is the more important date in the rehab process. The Philadelphia Eagles did not place Carson Wentz on the PUP list at the start of camp this year, and given that his injury was in December and involved an LCL along with the ACL, whether or not the 49ers use the PUP list will let us know if there has been any setback.
And so, in the meantime, we wait.