Kyle Shanahan was the first to reach out to Jimmy Garoppolo to inform him of the San Francisco 49ers' plan to draft a quarterback. The coach did so via FaceTime, his preferred method of communication. Later, general manager John Lynch reached out, this time with a phone call.
The 49ers' brain trust wanted to be honest with its quarterback. While it still believes in his ability, his availability has been an issue during his tenure with the team. Garoppolo missed 10 games last season due to an ankle injury. An ACL injury sidelined him for all but three games in 2018. Shanahan and Lynch being so upfront with their thought process meant a lot to the quarterback.
"Those guys, they were very honest about the whole thing, the whole situation, and kind of told me what was going to happen," Garoppolo told Brian Murphy and Paul McCaffrey on KNBR this morning.
Earlier this week, Lynch shared that he did make one promise to Garoppolo. No matter who the 49ers brought into the quarterback room, the quarterback would have a chance to compete.
"The first thing he said (was), 'John, will I have a chance to compete?'" Lynch shared. "I said, 'Of course you will. We're going to play the guy who gives us the best chance. Yeah, you'll have a chance to compete.'"
That was all Garoppolo wanted.
At first, the quarterback had mixed feelings about the situation. However, he knew what he wanted. He wanted to be given a chance. Garoppolo is getting that from the 49ers. In fact, the team's plans include having him as the starting quarterback when the Niners take the field during Week 1 against the Detroit Lions. It will be up to Garoppolo whether or not he remains in that role.
"I want to say it's just white noise, but it definitely motivates me," Garoppolo shared. "I'm not going to lie. That's the competitor in all of us. You hear things like that. At the end of the day, there's only one quarterback out there, but you want to go compete and do whatever you can to be that guy. It's kind of a motivator in the back of your head, at the same time."
There was a lot of secrecy surrounding the 49ers' draft plans. Only Shanahan and Lynch knew the plan. Garoppolo had no idea who was coming in to challenge him.
The quarterback spoke with others, trying to guess who might be drafted. He heard all of the speculation surrounding the top prospects — Trey Lance, Mac Jones, and Justin Fields. It wasn't until the night of the draft when Garoppolo learned it was Lance.
"Me and my brother were just sitting there. Saw it was Trey," Garoppolo said. "Shot him a text. He's a cool dude too, so that's a nice addition."
Garoppolo hasn't had a lot of time to worry about what might happen down the road. He has been working hard this offseason to make sure he makes the most out of the upcoming opportunity. He hopes to stay on the field this season and play well, creating a tough decision for Shanahan and Lynch next offseason.
Murphy asked Garoppolo if he gained weight this offseason, saying that the quarterback looks bigger.
"No, the weight is about the same. Still around 225, 226," Garoppolo responded. "But yeah, just tried to change the body a little bit. Put on muscle in different spots, kind of, but the weight is about the same, so nothing really different there. Just made some adjustments."
One of the biggest criticisms against Garoppolo has been that inability to remain on the football field. The quarterback was asked if the "adjustments" were a result of those criticisms.
"Somewhat," he answered. "Every offseason, I go into it with goals I set for myself and things that I want to accomplish. Just the last couple of years, with the injuries that have happened, they're tough to control. You know, like a high-ankle sprain or things like that. But there is something that you can do as a player to try to prevent it, or do as much as you can to prevent it, and that's just what I'm trying to do."
As for the high-ankle sprain that he suffered through last season, Garoppolo says he has been at "100 percent for a while now." He credits a strong offseason regimen.
Last season's injury was difficult for Garoppolo. While he returned from the initial injury during Week 5, he was far from healthy and struggled through that stretch of games. He fought to stay on the field but eventually re-aggravating the ankle in Week 8. That was how his 2020 campaign ended.
"The amount of tape that we had to put on (the ankle) pre-game, the things we had to do for it just -- it was tough to sustain that," Garoppolo commented. "I wanted to be out there so bad. That's the tough part about football because you put in all this time with the guys, and I'm in the locker room, I'm in the meetings every day, and you want to go out there and go to war with them. It just makes it tough."
You can listen to the entire conversation with Garoppolo below.