Santa Clara – Typically, 49ers general manager John Lynch kicks off the team’s press conferences, but this time, he didn’t get the chance. It was new quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo who addressed the media when Lynch, Garoppolo and coach Kyle Shanahan sat down for Tuesday’s introductory news conference.
“I think Kyle will tell ya,” Lynch said after Garoppolo talked about his excitement about coming to the 49ers and expressed his gratitude to the Patriots. “The great quality of a quarterback is taking charge.”
Now it will be up to Garoppolo to take charge of getting on the field. Coach Kyle Shanahan said there are similarities between the 49ers’ and Patriot’s offenses, but it will be learning a new terminology that will take the most time.
Shanahan put no timetable on when Garoppolo will play, except to say it won’t be Sunday against the visiting Cardinals.
“I know Jimmy is going to come in here and do everything he can to get ready. I know we are too, but by no means are we trying to rush the process,” Shanahan said. Not only will Shanahan consider Garoppolo’s grasp of the offense, but also his patchwork offensive line. Right tackle Trent Brown is still recovering from a concussion and left tackle Joe Staley may have fractured his orbital bone in last week’s loss to the Eagles.
When asked if the offensive line settling down will play a role, Shanahan said, “I think it’s contingent on everything. I don’t expect anyone to fully understand it unless you’ve been in that situation before. But, coming in and just learning completely new terminology is a big deal.”
Because the offenses are similar, Shanahan said it will be easy to relate one play to another. But for a quarterback, command of the verbiage is paramount.
“The quarterback’s got to communicate everything so the other 10 guys know what to do,” Shanahan said. “And that’s when you talk about language and then that takes a while to get comfortable with. Some guys go through that for a whole year and it’s not totally natural to them.”