Today's practice will be very telling. Everyone wants to know which quarterback will head onto the field with the offense when the San Francisco 49ers take on the division-leading Arizona Cardinals on Sunday afternoon. Will it be Jimmy Garoppolo, or will the team go with the rookie, Trey Lance?
Garoppolo sustained a calf injury during Week 4's loss to the Seattle Seahawks and has not practiced this week. The 49ers' final practice will be this afternoon, and Garoppolo told head coach Kyle Shanahan that he wants to "give it a go."
"Jimmy is a tough competitor," general manager John Lynch said this morning on KNBR's Murph & Mac show. "And Jimmy was in a considerable amount of pain. Got kneed in the calf, and that's just kind of shut that whole area down. It makes it hard when it's your right foot because that's your push foot. It just rendered him to where he couldn't play.
"... He wanted to get out there—just too painful—Wednesday, Thursday. But Jimmy, he's been living in the training room, trying to get out there today. I think today is critical. If it's not today, then we go with Trey. The great news is Trey's gotten a lot of valuable reps. ... We'll see if Jimmy's ready, and then I think we'll be able to update you more later today."
Lynch added that there is "a chance" that running back Elijah Mitchell is available for Sunday's game.
"It was a positive step yesterday," Lynch said. "He was out there [at practice], we were in pads, and he responded in really good fashion. Elijah is a very tough kid, very talented kid, and seemed to kind of instantly mesh with the way we run the football. So, I think that will only help if we can get him back.
"You always want to see how guys respond the next day, and I haven't heard anything yet. So I'm assuming it's all good."
Tight end George Kittle is still dealing with a calf injury and hasn't practiced this week. However, that doesn't rule him out for Week 5.
"It's hard [for Kittle] to work through practice, but it's hard to keep George out of the game," Lynch said. "Of course, our doctors are very skilled, and you can go get more opinions to make sure that we aren't putting him at further risk by putting him out there. We'll never do that. But he's finding a way to get to Sunday.
"But it is hard for anyone to function at their highest level when you're not practicing each day. George is the type of player who can do that, but it sure would be nice to have him back.
"Everything's focused on this Sunday, and George is working his tail off to be there. If not, it's nice that we do have a bye [after Sunday], and we're hopeful that time can allow him to heal enough to really lick this thing and put it behind us so he can get back in there at practice."
You can listen to the entire conversation with Lynch below.