Scott Ostler:
In the third season of the Lynch Shanahan era, 49ers report with high hopes.
It was Jimmy Garoppolo’s turn to face the media Friday, and a couple questions into his session, a video person said to the 49ers’ quarterback, “If you don’t mind, would you step up to the podium?”
Jimmy G had gradually backed away from the media’s vicious rush and was fielding questions from a pistol formation. He smiled and quickly moved up closer to the action.
That camerashy moment aside, it looked like the 49ers franchise quarterback was ready to resume his quest to help lead the team back to relevance. His return to active duty, after last season’s knee injury in Game 3 — which kneecapped the 49ers’ offense the rest of the way through the 412 season — was the big news as the team opened training camp.
“It’s officially official,” Garoppolo said cheerily. “We’re good to go.”
That was the unofficial theme for the whole team on Friday, as cornerback Richard Sherman called it, “The first day of school.”
Good news and positive vibes filled the air. That’s typical cliche firstday pablum, but there are genuinely hopeful indications that these 49ers might be equipped to emerge from five seasons of stumbling through the nonplayoffs wilderness.
For openers, coach Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch appeared together. Either they are good at faking a chummy relationship, or the recent report of a rift between them was lacking in substance.
Shanahan and Lynch reaffirmed their strong friendship and close working relationship. There was another report (also from Bleacher Report) of dissatisfaction among team scouts, and Shanahan denied there is any problem. Some insiders suspect that both reports sprung from a rogue leaker in the building, possibly a holdover from the previous coach/GM regime.
Shanahan and Lynch have bigger concerns. This is their third season. No more building for the future. The first two seasons were the windup, this is the pitch. This is the season they prove themselves as legitimate teambuilders and dynamic leaders, or just two schlubs waiting to be handed Greyhound tickets out of town.
Early indications are good. As key players trickled in for interviews, it was connectthe dots time. For the 49ers to win, Garoppolo must thrive, and he’ll need blocking. Voila, there’s tackle Joe Staley, healthy and upbeat starting his 13th 49ers’ camp. To move the ball, Garoppolo will need tight end George Kittle, who last season set an NFL record for receiving yards by a tight end. Kittle arrived with his usual enthusiasm, plus a new bend butdon’t break bod, thanks to three weeks of concentrated yoga.
“Can’t you tell I’m limber now?” Kittle asked, wildly flapping his arms.
“Not by that,” commented one reporter.
Good teams have strong leadership, and that finger points to Staley, to the laidback but outgoing Garoppolo, to the positivevibes Kittle, and on defense to the most vocal 49er, Sherman.
Sherman stepped to the podium following kicker Robbie Gould, just after Gould deflected a question about his longterm plans by saying solemnly, “I’m just worried about my next kick.”
Sherman opened his session with, “I’m just worried about the next kick.”
When Sherman played for the Seattle Seahawks, the 49ers and their fans knew him as a braying jackass. Now he’s a loud, funny, positive and demanding team leader, who still has Hall ofFame level chops at cornerback.
“That culture that he came from in Seattle,” Staley said, “was kind of like an almost bravado, ego kind of stuff, (and) that rubs off on a lot of younger players. Not just saying it, being fake, but living that life, and having confidence and practicing that way on the football field.”
Much of last season Sherman played in pain, with a staple in his repaired Achilles acting like “a nail in the tire.” The nail’s out, the pain’s gone, Sherman’s ready to rip.
“I feel really good, I feel really explosive,” Sherman said. “I’ve worked hard, I feel healthy.”
Through the interviews, one thread of questioning was about the high(er) expectations for, and pressure on, this year’s 49ers, now that the coach and GM have had two years to build their kind of team, and key players are healthy.
“Not pressure, excitement,” Shanahan said, tweaking the terminology. He noted that there will be more competition for roster spots and playing time than there was last year, which can be stressful to the players, “but at the same time, it’s very exciting.”
He said he wanted the players to feel confidence, not pressure.
Pressure? Confidence? Excitement?
“What I feel is opportunity,” Lynch said, and one could imagine the GM, a former safety with a militarygrade jawline, sniffing the air and saying, “I love the smell of opportunity in the morning!”
Does it smell like victory? We’ll see.