49ers RB Jerick McKinnon ditches crutches, observes Tuesday’s practice

Matt Barrows of The Athletic snapped this photo of San Francisco 49ers running back Jerick McKinnon observing the start of Tuesday's practice. The image is noteworthy because McKinnon, who suffered a torn ACL on September 1, was not using crutches anymore.

As Barrows notes in the Instagram post, McKinnon's injury took place 22 days before the same injury struck starting quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo during a Week 3 contest against the Kansas City Chiefs. That means Garoppolo might also be a practice observer soon.

"Jimmy's a warrior, and I'm pretty sure he has the same mindset on the whole process and recovery process," McKinnon said on October 3 via the Mercury News while still using crutches and with his knee in a brace. "The only thing we can do is work and push each other through these next nine months, and push each other to be that much better than before."

A month later, those crutches are gone.

On October 26, Garoppolo spoke with reporters for the first time since his injury and called being forced to use crutches one of the worst parts of the whole ordeal.

"I've never had a serious injury like this, so it's different," Garoppolo said. "We're very positive now. I've got Jet (McKinnon) going through it with me. We're kind of helping one another, so it's good."

Both McKinnon and Garoppolo are expected to be healthy for the start of the 2019 season. Head coach Kyle Shanahan is hopeful that Garoppolo can start throwing the football and doing some non-contact work during organized team activities next offseason.