Shanahan sees no scenario for Garoppolo's return in '23
SANTA CLARA >> Brock Purdy and Trey Lance drew a vocal commitment from the quarterback-challenged 49ers' brass Wednesday.
Jimmy Garoppolo? Time to say goodbye, again.
Coach Kyle Shanahan essentially ruled out Garoppolo from returning for a seventh season, saying: “I don't see any scenario of that.”
Instead, Shanahan pledged his allegiance to the two young, injured quarterbacks who, unlike Garoppolo, remain under contract.
“I know we have two starters on our team right now I think we can win with,” Shanahan said in the 49ers' end-of-season press conference. “When you have that situation, you're not that eager to go looking around.”
Thus, there is no such clamoring from him for a high-profile veteran savior, not even Garoppolo, who helped rescue this season after saying goodbye at this same press conference last year.
Now comes more quarterback juggling, after having to deploy four quarterbacks — Lance, Garoppolo, Purdy, Josh Johnson — through this season's march to the NFC West title, a 13-4 record, and two playoff wins before Sunday's NFC Championship Game loss at Philadelphia.
“I don't think there is much to handle. One guy can't go, and the other guy should be able to go in OTAs (spring workouts),” Shanahan said.
A year ago, Lance took over as the starting quarterback, and Garoppolo wasn't able to go because of March shoulder surgery that wrecked his trade value. Garoppolo took a pay cut to return in a backup capacity between Lance and Purdy, then Jimmy G quickly reclaimed his job, got the 49ers' on a winning streak, then bowed out with a Dec. 4 foot fracture.
That, of course, launched Purdy's grand entrance to the NFL, as the rookie produced six wins before a significant elbow injury promptly forced him out of Sunday's NFC Championship Game defeat.
Shanahan and general manager John Lynch indicated Wednesday that Purdy, while still considering his options, likely faces a fast-track path to recovery, with a six-month rehabilitation from a UCL repair to insert a brace, rather than undergo a complete reconstruction and a year-long hiatus from Tommy John surgery.
“The positive bit of news is that it seems to be consistent that the right approach is the one that takes the six-month mark (of recovery with an internal brace),” Lynch said. “Everybody also will say you never know until you get in there (with surgery) … We seem encouraged by the prognosis that that's kind of where that's at.”
Added Shanahan: “That was the coolest thing for me to hear about, that once three months is over, they start the rehab to build the arm back slowly. By six months, it's built back. I started to ask questions, `Do you ease him in?' They said, `No, the buildup is between three to six months.' ”
A day after Lance said he expects his right ankle should be cleared for full activity within a month, Shanahan did not dispute that, but added how he'd likely ease the third-year quarterback into the offseason program in April drills before organized team activities in late May.
Lance was mere background fodder Wednesday to Purdy's plight, other than Lynch saying: “Trey's had a rough go the last couple of years. He's obviously going to have to prove that he can stay healthy.”
Lynch insisted that 49ers' ceaseless injuries at quarterback are a “coincidence” and not linked to the offensive scheme, adding that Purdy's had a durable playing career before finding himself in “an inopportune situation.” Shanahan was terser with his response.
“If you looked at the injuries, common sense would answer that,” Shanahan began his retort. “How did they get hurt? I'm sorry Josh got a concussion when he hit the ground. I'm sorry our quarterback got his elbow bent backward on a normal drop-back pass. I'm sorry on a drop-back pass someone rolled up on Jimmy's ankle. And then we have a dualthreat quarterback who got hurt running the ball.