The San Francisco 49ers will enjoy about six weeks off after Thursday's team meeting and "family day" in Santa Clara. Head coach Kyle Shanahan will stress the importance of staying in football shape during that span between the offseason program and training camp. Doing so could make or break your NFL career.
"You can't stress enough how important it is," Shanahan said after Wednesday's practice. "Everything about what these guys do and how their year is going to go, you have to stack days up in this league. If you think you can just take 30 days off and stuff, you are going to be in such a rude awakening."
Shanahan noted that it is sometimes hard to convince rookies because they were the best at the college level and able to enjoy periods of laxity.
"If you aren't a pro in this offseason, not only just training but eat the right way, sleep the right way, it will catch up with you in this league," Shanahan added.
One player who doesn't plan to think of the next six weeks as a long vacation is quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo. Shanahan and the 49ers hope to have him medically cleared and full-go for training camp. Until then, the quarterback plans to get a lot of work in with throwing coach Tom House and his team at 3DQB in the Los Angeles area.
"These next 40 days will be big, getting with him and everything," Garoppolo said. "He knows the offense pretty well. It'll really help us going forward."
Garoppolo also plans to get some work in with his receivers. However, he wouldn't name who will join him in Southern California.
The quarterback is returning from the ACL injury he suffered in late-September. He was held out of 11-on-11 drills until Wednesday when he was inserted into the offense and threw a completion to wide receiver Dante Pettis. Of course, Shanahan was uncomfortable watching four defensive linemen rushing his recovering franchise quarterback.
"I told the D-line, 'Just stand there and put your hands up. No one's allowed to rush,'" Shanahan said. "The animals that they are and why we love them, they couldn't help it. I saw it, so just stopped it. I wasn't going to mess with it."
Garoppolo finished the drive facing a defense minus its front four, essentially making it an 11-on-7 drill. He capped off the drive with a touchdown pass to Pettis. The next time Garoppolo will see 11-on-11 drills will be during training camp, assuming everything does as planned.
What does the quarterback want to work on during his time off?
"During these 40 days, you do so many different things physical and mental," Garoppolo said. "You're trying to recover at the same time while getting ready for training camp. But I think just having the timing of the offense down, being in rhythm with receivers that I'll work with and everything, and getting comfortable. I mean, it's been a while since I've been in 11-on-11 football, so just getting as comfortable as I can as quickly as I can."
Garoppolo has been pleased with the progress he's seen from the offense this offseason.
"As a whole, the offense kept moving in the right direction," he said. "I think every day we kept getting better. We had a couple of bad days here and there, but overall we were moving in the right direction. The young guys are really coming on, and the new guys are really making a splash. It's been a good offseason, I'd say."
You can watch the entire interview with Garoppolo below, courtesy of the Santa Rosa Press Democrat's Grant Cohn.