The San Francisco 49ers are welcoming back players to Santa Clara, and quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo was among those arriving at the facility Monday morning. The team created an Instagram Story featuring a host of players returning. It included Garoppolo and tight end Garrett Celek (pictured above), defensive tackle DeForest Buckner, wide receiver Trent Taylor, quarterback C.J. Beathard, tight end George Kittle, tight end Cole Hikutini, and fullback Kyle Juszczyk.
Garoppolo will earn a $600,000 bonus for attending the offseason workout program, but even without the bonus, it’s safe to say he would be in town for it. He looked great when he moved into the starting lineup last fall, but the offseason workout program will be huge for him.
Head coach Kyle Shanahan said they will be able to break down everything about Jimmy Garoppolo and build it back up in conjunction with learning the full playbook. Last year, Garoppolo learned chunks of the playbook, but there was no time to take a serious deep dive into it. He was busy enough learning the game-plan for the week, so learning more of the intricacies was just not going to happen.
The 49ers will open the workout program with strength and conditioning work on the field coupled with classroom work on the playbook. After two weeks of strength and conditioning, they get into individual player instruction and offense or defense drills (but not offense vs. defense). That lasts three weeks, and is then followed by four weeks of offense vs. defense as part of OTAs and minicamp.
All of this provides Garoppolo time in the classroom and on the field to really dive into the playbook. I imagine he’s been plenty busy learning the playbook, but getting on the field and executing plays will take this significantly further. It will give him something to work with as he prepares for training camp, when preparations take an even bigger step forward.
But in the meantime, Jimmy G is in the house!