Jimmy Garoppolo is feeling pretty good. The San Francisco 49ers quarterback is over 10 months removed from his season-ending ACL injury during Week 3 of last season. He's not where he wants to be yet, but feels that he, like the 49ers offense, has made great strides since OTAs.
Garoppolo was asked on Thursday how he feels the offense has progressed throughout the offseason. The defense has mostly looked better during these initial practices — as is often the case at the start of training camp. Thursday's outing was noticeably more balanced, according to multiple reports.
"I think it's been going pretty well," Garoppolo told reporters. "I think with the offense and defense battling, that's always a good thing. You never want it to be one-sided because that's not good for your football team. Having battled against them, it's only going to make us better and make them better."
Garoppolo also said his body is holding up well to the rigors of training camp.
"The excitement of football being back, kind of the little kid feeling when camp comes around, and now we're in it," Garoppolo added. "It's always exciting."
Garoppolo has the words "Robot Mindset" written on his wristband. It's a reminder for the quarterback to remain focused on the task at hand. Garoppolo adopted the motto after being drafted by the New England Patriots. He couldn't, however, pinpoint the exact timetable.
Garoppolo was asked about the phrase on Thursday, and the quarterback smiled before answering.
"It's just kind of a thing I keep in my head just to stay locked in," he responded. "You don't want to be distracted by the fans, or the music, or anything like that. As a quarterback, that's what you have to do. You have to have that robot mindset."
Garoppolo added, "It makes me lock in. It's just a little reminder for me to look down every once in a while and read that. But yeah, it helps me."
The other reminders written on Garoppolo's wristband are to watch the safeties, to call the appropriate protection needed, and "LEAD" — yes, in all caps and underlined.
Other notes
Garoppolo doesn't feel like his sliding will be impaired by his leg brace. "Thankfully, I've always been a right-legged slider," he said. "That should be easy."
The 49ers defense has been giving the team's quarterbacks a lot of different looks during training camp. Garoppolo feels it has helped them to better read coverages. "It's good for us," he said.
Garoppolo loves having so much depth and speed at the running back position. "It's kind of pick your poison," he said. "Each one of them does certain things better than the other. The coaches do a great job putting them in position to be successful."