San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch spoke to the media Tuesday afternoon as the team kicks off training camp. The players reported for camp, with practices set to begin on Wednesday.
During the media session, Shanahan had plenty to say about his team, and especially his quarterback. That is, his current starting quarterback, Jimmy Garoppolo.
It should come as no surprise, but the head coach referred to Garoppolo as "our best quarterback in the building right now." He emphasized that Garoppolo is the starter, and that there is no competition for starting quarterback job at this time.
"Jimmy's coming in as the one and Trey's coming in as the two," Shanahan told reporters.
Of course, the coach did leave the door open for competition down the road.
Shanahan seems especially impressed with Garoppolo's offseason work.
"And I thought he had as good of OTAs as he's had since he's been here," Shanahan added. "So that really excites me about Jimmy going into training camp."
Shanahan noted that the quarterback came to OTAs (organized team activities) having improved upon the previous season. He expects Garoppolo to build off that. And having an improved offensive team around him will only help.
The San Francisco coach said he told his quarterback, "... there's no rookie who is going to just come in here right away and be able to take your job if you're at the top of your game and what I've seen so far is him getting there. And that's very exciting for me. It's very exciting for the Niners and it's early. Those were OTAs. We'll see how training camp goes and we'll deal with it accordingly."
So what exactly was it that impressed Shanahan this offseason?
"Just how sharp he was, the rhythm of getting the ball out on time, where it was going," Shanahan responded. "Just even if I didn't watch the film, if I just watched his body language, how he talked to people, how he called the play he was very clear. He was very sharp, aggressive in what he did. And it was, it was good to see and excited me while we were away. And you can hear that I'm excited about it now."
A better Garoppolo means a better 49ers team. That has the head coach excited.