Future of QB with 49ers is muddled
Head coach Kyle Shanahan on Tuesday confirmed the news that broke a day earlier: It’s possible quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo won’t play again in 2020.
However, Shanahan didn’t shed light on a question that could dominate the early offseason: Will Garoppolo be playing for the 49ers in 2021?
The 49ers expected their quarterback to take the next step in his development this season, but instead most of his steps have been painful.
He suffered a high ankle sprain in Week 2, missed two games and wasn’t fully healed in four upanddown starts before he was knocked out of Sunday’s loss in Seattle with what Shanahan said was a more severe injury in a different area of his ankle. Shanahan said Garoppolo will miss six weeks, if his injury doesn’t require seasonending surgery.
“He reinjured it ( and) did it completely worse,” Shanahan said. “And it was a whole new ( injury) rolling it the way he did.”
Garoppolo is ranked 23rd in the NFL in passer rating ( 92.4), but he was only fully healthy for one of his six starts. Shanahan was asked about Garoppolo’s latest injury and overall medical file, which includes a torn ACL that sidelined him for 13 games in 2018.
Does his playing time — Garoppolo has made 30 regularseason starts over parts of four seasons with the 49ers — make it hard to evaluate him as the 49ers look beyond this season?
“I don’t think it’s difficult for me to evaluate,” Shanahan said. “I’ve got a good idea with Jimmy and what Jimmy is capable of doing, and that’s why he’s been here. People get better when they play more, and that’s what I feel for Jimmy on. One, Jimmy gives us the best chance to win. He’s proven that.
“… Regardless of that, I want Jimmy playing as much as possible because I know when he does, he’ll only get better from the experiences of it. I think that’d be the most frustrating thing about it after having the best chance to win.”
That answer won’t prevent questions that figure to persist. As far as Garoppolo playing through his injury, Shanahan said he wasn’t
looking back with regret.
However, it’s fair to wonder whether Garoppolo would be available for Thursday night’s game against the Packers if the 49ers had taken a more cautious approach.
Garoppolo was injured in a win against the Jets on Sept. 20 and played the final 26 minutes of the first half with a noticeable limp before he sat for the second half. When he returned, in a 4317 loss to the Dolphins on Oct. 11, Shanahan cited Garoppolo’s ankle as a reason for his subpar firsthalf performance that led to a halftime benching.
Garoppolo performed well in wins against the Rams and Patriots, executing a game plan heavy on short passes, before he was reinjured against the Seahawks.
“I don’t regret bringing him back,” Shanahan said. “… Obviously, the way the Miami game went, if I could have seen that before the game, we could have avoided bringing him back. But I thought he gave us a real good chance to win, and we didn’t think he was risking injury by going further with it and he didn’t.
“That’s why he was able to come back the next two weeks even healthier, but he redid something in the Seattle game and it was bad.”
It wasn’t the only serious injury from the loss to the Seahawks: Shanahan confirmed AllPro tight end George Kittle could miss the rest of the season with a broken bone in his foot. Kittle is expected to miss eight weeks.
“Kittle says two ( weeks), but that’s how he rolls,” Shanahan said. “… If it’s better than what they’re saying, he’ll have a chance to come back this year. But eight weeks is eight weeks.”
Shanahan would be in a rush to get ready for a Thursday game in normal circumstances. But he’s charged with preparing to play the Packers with an offense that won’t include Garoppolo, Kittle, wide receiver Deebo Samuel and running backs Raheem Mostert, Tevin Coleman and Jeff Wilson.
“I just told our team, my wife’s calling me yesterday ( and) wants to talk about school systems and homeschooling and how frustrating it is right now with some of our kids,” Shanahan said. “I hear her — that’s a big deal. But I can’t talk about it until Friday.”