The Jimmy Garoppolo knee injury will continue to be talked about until 2019’s training camp rolls around for what could have been. No doubt the injury hurts Garoppolo’s development into a starter role as the team around him continues to fully immerse itself in the system without him.
While with the Atlanta Falcons, Kyle Shanahan’s offense took some getting used to. A whole season actually. The first year it was introduced, Matt Ryan threw 16 interceptions to 21 touchdowns. The second year, he was MVP.
Which is all the more reason Garoppolo’s injury hurts this development. Many presumed his head start in 2017 meant the growing pains wouldn’t be as severe, but no one will deny Garoppolo needed a full year in this offense.
On Matt Maiocco’s 49ers Insider Podcast former 49ers quarterback Jeff Garcia was asked about how bad this injury hurt Garoppolo’s development and if he could have the same improvement in 2019 that Ryan had in year two:
“I believe that he can, because he’s going to have most of the offseason hopefully next year, 2019 to really get out on the field, to mentally go through reps as well as applying it physically and continue to grow. Last Sunday we saw improvement in his efficiency, eliminating turnovers. He just had the one sack-fumble where it was fortunately recovered by the Niners. Going 20/30, 66 percent completion percentage. In that mid-200 yard range. He had dropped balls that needed to be caught, he needs help from other guys out there, and he had a couple of misses that he knows he could be better on, but I think from what he was seeing from a mental standpoint and his decision making, he was doing a quality job out there.
“Continuing to grow, bettering himself, got over the hiccups of the first game and the three turnovers, which aren’t all on him, but it’s a team game and you realize your responsibility. Got through that, didn’t have any turnovers the second week. Didn’t have the interceptions in the third week. I think there was progress that was taking place where he was continuing to better himself. He’ll just have to now look at it from a mental standpoint; how can he better himself each week, how can he apply the gameplan to actually reps, mental reps for himself. And then once he’s ready physically to really get after it again.”
Hopefully Garoppolo gets a lot of time to study that playbook and develop as much as he can from the sidelines, because the rest of his team is getting valuable reps.
I’ve time stamped the podcast below. You can listen using the widget above or go here.
00:45 - Thoughts the moment Garoppolo injured himself
04:15 - The experience Garoppolo misses out on
06:38 - The injury setting the team back
09:20 - What Garoppolo needs to do to pick up where he left off
11:25 - Can Garoppolo make the same improvement in 2019 that Matt Ryan had without the game experience?
13:50 - The C.J. Beathard show
15: 47 - Similarities between him and Beathard
18:00 - Similarities between pressure he faced coming in for Steve Young with Beathard coming in for Garoppolo
23:31 - Doing pre- and post-game with Dante Whitner