San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan isn't slamming the door on the possibility that quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo might return at some point during the playoffs. The team isn't even sure yet if they will place Garoppolo on its injured reserve list.
Garoppolo is expected to miss seven to eight weeks with a broken foot. That's a long time, but much less than the initial estimate of about six months. The severity of the injury is not as significant as once assumed. Still, the new timeline puts a potential return at the earliest in the second or third round of the playoffs.
"Really, there's that way outside chance late in the playoffs or something like that," Shanahan admitted this week, "but it's just an outside chance. I'm not real optimistic about that, but you never rule it out."
NFL insider Tom Pelissero, joining the Rich Eisen Show this week, provided a better picture of what to expect with Garoppolo's recovery and potential return. Basically, don't expect the veteran quarterback to be trotting out with the offense in a Divisional Playoff Game.
"I would say, and this is a bit of a projection, Rich, but I would say the best-case scenario at this point, for Jimmy Garoppolo, is dressing as the backup quarterback at some point as you get to the NFC Championship Game or, more likely, the Super Bowl," Pelissero told Eisen.
"I know there was some confusion created about the seven to eight week timeline that was reported. The way that somebody very familiar with this injury in NFL players explained it to me was, the first six weeks after this injury, if it's not a Lisfranc, if it does not require surgery, the bone's going to heal on its own, for six weeks, you can do nothing. You have to do nothing. He's going to be in a boot or a cast, and you're basically just going to have to rest and let the bone heal.
"Well, six weeks, you're already into the Divisional round of the playoffs, and there would obviously be a ramp-up period of just being able to move around again, and throw the football again, get your cardio up, and all those types of things."
Pelissero agrees with Shanahan, who told reporters that the new recovery timeline was when the injury would heal, not when Garoppolo could get back on the football field.
"They don't have to do surgery on it," Shanahan added. "Still going to be a big recovery, but much less than what we anticipated, which is awesome news for him."
Also, if the 49ers are already that far in the playoffs, then Garoppolo may not be needed. It would probably mean that Purdy is holding things together on offense.
"If you have gotten to the NFC Championship Game with Brock Purdy, you're probably not benching Brock Purdy for a Jimmy Garoppolo who hasn't played in two months; that's saving the season," Pelissero noted. "Is there a scenario where he could dress? Maybe, at some point down the line.
"Listen, everybody's bodies heal differently, bones heal differently, but there is that initial six weeks or so that you don't want to push it because you run the risk of rebreaking the foot. That's not something that Jimmy Garoppolo's going to want to do as he comes up on free agency.
"So it really is the Brock Purdy show for the foreseeable future, and maybe at the very end, if you've made a run with a rookie seventh-round quarterback, Mr. Irrelevant, maybe Jimmy can at least dress and help in a pinch if something happens to your starter."