It’s been pretty well known that San Francisco 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo has put in some hours after practice with the offense to get things in sync. While it’s not a requirement, it’s certainly crucial in putting in extra time to get everything together.
Well, that’s apparently not a rare occurrence, Garoppolo is putting those hours in every day. Sometimes it may be with the wide receivers to work on the deep ball, or it was like Sunday where he was with the tight ends, but Garoppolo definitely is being the last one out of that building and making sure some stay with him to get work done.
Garoppolo spoke about it Sunday in his post-practice meeting with the media:
“Yeah, I like to. It’s kind of what separates you, I guess. Everyone’s putting in the same amount of practice time, but whoever stays after, you’re getting a little extra work in. So, there’s a fine line during camp. You don’t want to kill guys and they run a lot more than I do so we’ve got to take care of their legs a little bit.”
This kind of leadership hasn’t been on full display since Alex Smith was running “Camp Alex” to install Jim Harbaugh’s offense during the 2011 NFL lockout. That’s not to say other quarterbacks were not taking control of the team like Smith or Garoppolo have, but it just hasn’t been as prominent or obvious as their leadership has been. Colin Kaepernick, Blaine Gabbert and Brian Hoyer all had their own ways in taking control of the team.
The big thing to take in is Jimmy Garoppolo got all that money in his big payday this spring, but he’s definitely trying to show why the 49ers paid him all that money in the first place. It’s not just to win games, but it’s to do things like this as well.