San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan joined KNBR this morning and provided an update on his starting quarterback. No, not rookie Trey Lance. Jimmy Garoppolo.
If healthy, Garoppolo is expected to be the Week 7 starter against the Indianapolis Colts. Lance may not even be available for that game. The rookie quarterback suffered a knee sprain during his first start this past weekend. The injury could keep him out for one or two weeks.
Garoppolo is attempting to return from the calf injury sustained on October 3. It sounds like the 49ers are optimistic about his recovery.
"I mean, he's doing good," Shanahan said on the Murph & Mac show. "We'll see when we get back [after the bye week]. I think he'll be ready to go next week when we get back. That's the plan. I know he's doing a lot better now than he was last week."
Of course, Shanahan doesn't want to commit to anything when it comes to calf injuries. The team thought tight end George Kittle might recover quickly from his own calf injury. Instead, he was placed on injured reserve this past weekend.
"I know there was an outside chance that he was going to be able to play [this past weekend], which makes me feel pretty good going forward about Indy," Shanahan shared. "But I'm never going to set it in stone because calves are a little bit weird. That's what we had to go through with Kittle here over these last few weeks, and Jimmy's isn't the same. So, I think it will be better, but let's hope for the best."
You can listen to the entire conversation with Shanahan below.