Do not hold your breath on Jimmy Garoppolo returning this season.
There was a monumental shift in narrative on Tuesday when ESPN’s Adam Schefter dropped a bombshell that Garoppolo could return in 7-8 weeks.
That appears to be a bit misleading.
Schefter’s report intimates that Garoppolo could return to action in 7-8 weeks. The reality, according to Kyle Shanahan, is that 7-8 weeks is the early timeline for Garoppolo to be heal.
“Best-case scenario. Not to play football, 7-8 weeks, but to heal,” Shanahan said. “Usually takes a little bit more after that [to get back to football action].”
He confirmed that there’s no ligament damage in the foot, which bodes well for Garoppolo’s long-term health and recovery. Shanahan said he should “be fine once the broken foot heals.”
No surgery will be required, but he made evident that it’s “still going to be a big recovery,” just less than what was initially anticipated.
There is a chance that Garoppolo could return, but it wouldn’t be until deep into the playoffs.
“There’s that way outside chance late in the playoffs or something like that, but that’s just an outside chance,” Shanahan said. “I’m not really real optimistic about that, but they didn’t rule that out.”
One complicating factor is that the 49ers have just two injured reserve return slots available. Elijah Mitchell is just about certain to take up one of those at the start of the playoffs. Javon Kinlaw is expected to take up the other, but that’s less definitive than with Mitchell.
“We’ve got to play that by ear kind of with our whole roster,” Shanahan said. “Our goal is to get to the playoffs, so we’ve got to make sure we do the best thing possible for that. That is the issue with IR. Most likely, even if that did happen, he wouldn’t be able to come back from that.”
It’s a situation which means the 49ers will almost certainly ride with Brock Purdy for the remainder of the season. Veteran quarterback Josh Johnson was signed to the active roster this week for his fourth career stint with the 49ers, and former Washington QB Jacob Eason is on the practice squad.
Outside of Garoppolo, the 49ers had the following players out, or limited in practice on Wednesday:
Not practicing:
- S Tarvarius Moore – knee
- DE Nick Bosa – hamstring
- QB Jimmy Garoppolo – foot
- DT Hassan Ridgeway – pectoral
- LT Trent Williams – vet day, rest
Limited:
- WR Deebo Samuel – quad
- Christian McCaffrey – knee
- Arik Armstead – foot/ankle
- Spencer Burford – ankle