49ers put Garoppolo through cram session
SANTA CLARA >> Jimmy Garoppolo made his 49ers practice debut Wednesday wearing almost the same black-jersey, black-short, white-cleats attire as fellow quarterback C.J. Beathard. The glaring exception: a play-sheet on Garoppolo’s left wristband.
Garoppolo is cramming like crazy to learn coach Kyle Shanahan’s offense, starting with an iPad study on his cross-country flight Tuesday after his trade from the Patriots.
Shanahan and quarterbacks coach Rich Scangarello are getting Garoppolo up to speed in case he can be C.J. Beathard’s backup for Sunday’s game against the Arizona Cardinals — and possibly longer — until he’s ready to assume the starting role.
“The five minutes I sat and talked with him, he seems like a good dude,” center Daniel Kilgore said just before practice. Only five minutes? “Yeah, we’re not having much time. That guy is trying to get the playbook,” Kilgore said. “I don’t know if he’s playing or what, but I’m sure he’s being a pro, getting into the playbook and trying to learn.”
In warmups Wednesday, Beathard helped direct Garoppolo through drills, as did Scangarello and wide receivers coach Mike LaFleur.
First impression of Garoppolo’s arm: a nice spiral with ample strength and accuracy. For example, he hit Aldrick Robinson in stride on a 20-yard out route, and had the pass been wide, it would have drilled Shanahan and general manager John Lynch who were observing on the sideline.
Shanahan announced no set timeline on when he’ll deploy Garoppolo, echoing what was said a day earlier in the quarterback’s media
introduction.
“I can’t promise you guys that he won’t play this week. I can’t promise you guys that he’ll play this year,” Shanahan said. “I know we have a guy we’re excited about and has the ability to help us in the future.
“That’s what I mean by, ‘We didn’t do this to save this year.’ We did this because we feel it will improve our team and our organization.”
The 49ers are 0-8 for the first time in franchise history, and they’ll play the next couple games without left tackle Joe Staley (eye). In good news, Trent Brown returned from a concussion and moved from right to left tackle for Wednesday’s session.
Former 49ers quarterback Steve Young figures an ideal launching spot for Garoppolo would be Nov. 26 at home against Seattle, after the bye follows these coming games against the Arizona Cardinals and Dallas Cowboys.
“That’s plenty of time to be competent,” Young said on KNBR 680-AM. “But to have the nuances and the subtleties, there’s no chance. He’ll finish the season, the last game, ‘Aw, I’m finally getting that little feel.’ That’s just the nature of the situation he’s in.”
Garoppolo spent most of Tuesday huddling with Scangarello, but worked a couple hours with Shanahan on X’s and O’s. More of the same was to follow Wednesday and beyond. Examples of what must be learned beside new terminology: play calls, downand-distance situations, checkdowns, and, well, everything.
Beathard, who will make his third straight start, admitted he was stunned — “I was like, ‘Whoa, it’s crazy’” — when Shanahan reached out Monday to inform him of Garoppolo’s addition.
“He told me a lot of positive stuff and is still confident in what I’m doing, it had nothing to do with my first two starts,” Beathard said. “It was just an opportunity. Jimmy is a really good quarterback, too. It’s an opportunity to up the competition.”
Beathard expects the Cardinals (3-4) to pressure him, because that helped the Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles roll to 40-10 and 33-10 wins over him.
As he prepares for that, Beathard noted the irony how he’s now giving playbook tips to Garoppolo only a couple weeks after receiving them from Brian Hoyer, who started the first six games and signed with the Patriots on Wednesday a day after his 49ers release.
Linebacker Dekoda Watson said the 49ers made no grand introduction of Garoppolo in Wednesday’s team meeting. Watson is his only previous teammate with the Patriots, from the 2015 season.
“It’s safe to say, what I’ve seen is very positive,” Watson said. “He’s calm, collected. When it was time for him to step up when Brady was out (in 2016), he did a good job holding the team up.”
Shanahan said he’s already spent hours tutoring Garoppolo, and that they’ll spend 2 ½ hours soon looking at film of the Cardinals defense. As unlikely a debut as it would be Sunday, the Cardinals will be ready, just in case.
“You’ve got to get prepared for both,” Cardinals coach Bruce Arians said on a call with Bay Area media. “I don’t think they’re going to change offensively what they do. It’s just who’s doing it.”
Added Shanahan: “There’s going to be a lot of meeting time, just talking where people are lining up, protections, routes. That’s something that will take a while to grasp. Regardless of what happens, I know it’s not the finished product. We got a good person, a very talented player. I’m very excited to have him.”
Asked how he can help Garoppolo transition to the 49ers offense, wide receiver Marquise Goodwin said: “I’m not sure what I can do. Just be open and catch the ball when he throws it. Other than that, he’s got to do his studying and get the offense down.”
• Arians said not even Carson Palmer’s broken arm could vault the Cardinals into trade talks for Garoppolo, although he praised the quarterback who beat him in last season’s opener as a fill-in for the suspended Tom Brady. “He’s going to be one of the top-flight guys, especially in that offense,” Arians said. “Kyle does a great job with that style quarterback. It’s a really good system fit and he’s also a good leader.”
Garoppolo triumphed by leading a fourth-quarter comeback in last season’s opener, which the Patriots won 23-21. Garoppolo was 24-of-37 for 271 yards with two touchdown passes, no interceptions and two sacks. He also had four carries for 12 yards and even a 3-yard catch on a pass that ricocheted to him. Added Arians: “His accuracy was really good in that game. But I was really impressed with his poise.”
• Wide receiver Pierre Garcon (neck), left guard Brandon Fusco (biceps), defensive linemen Solomon Thomas (knee), Aaron Lynch (calf), D.J. Jones (knee) and Elvis Dumervil (vet day) and cornerback K’Waun Williams (quadriceps) did not practice.
• Safety Jimmie Ward (left forearm fracture) officially went on injured reserve for the third time in four seasons. In Ward’s final year at Northern Illinois, by the way, he intercepted Garoppolo in a win over Eastern Illinois.
• Offensive tackle Bryce Harris signed a one-year deal.