49ers camp: Garoppolo reveals his ‘robot mindset’
SANTA CLARA – Most eyes at 49ers training camp are on Jimmy Garoppolo’s rebuilt left knee that is ensconsed in a Donjoy, titanium brace.
Garoppolo’s wandering eyes look elsewhere, and not just at the defensive coverage or his wide receivers. The 49ers quarterback occassionally will peer at his left wristband to read a message he inscribed in black pen: “Robot Mindset.”
“It’s just kind of a thing I keep in my head, just to stay locked in,” Garoppolo said Thursday. “You don’t want to be distracted by the fans or the music or anything like that.
“As a quarterback, that’s what you have to do – have a robot mindset.”
That’s not the only reminder on his wristband’s cover, which also tells him to spy where safeties are lined up and what protection is needed.
Because Garoppolo is not actually a robot – stunning revelation, right? – his work day goes beyond just firing passes at a youth-laden receiving corps or trying to improve on the 49ers’ spotty red-zone production, the latter of which was Thursday’s emphasis.
He is only 10 months removed from surgery to replace the torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee. Stretching before practice does not require the multiple hours it took former 49ers linebacker Navorro Bowman, who tore multiple knee ligaments and needed a year of rehab before his 2015 comeback.
“Warming it up isn’t difficult,” Garoppolo said. “It’s just keeping the inflamation down and everything that is the battle.”
After practice, Garoppolo said his routine includes: “massage (the) soft tissue, ice tub, get it scraped, I mean there’s a million different things. You’re just trying to decrease the inflamation in it that comes from practice.”
Appreciative of the 49ers’ training staff, Garoppolo is “thankful” his left knee is what got hurt last Sept. 23 at Kansas City, seeing how his right leg is the one he plants and pushes off on throws.
His reps through five training camp practices have been plentiful with no apparent limitation – and no acquising of snaps for the QB2 battle between Nick Mullens and C.J. Beathard.
Thursday’s workload was an encouraging success. In the overanalyzed data department, he was 10-of-14 in team drills, and 5-of-6 in red zone action. He also looked sharp as receivers took on cornerbacks on an earlier red-zone drill, with exceptional scoring strikes to Dante Pettis, Marquise Goodwin, Trent Taylor and Jordan Matthews.
Garoppolo also ran for a would-be touchdown on a redzone snap, and he didn’t need to go into a fake slide like he did on a Monday run. By the way, he said he doesn’t need to learn how to slide with his knee brace because he’s always slid with right leg.