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What a change a week makes. After Nick Mullens looked like a capable quarterback against the now 0-4 New York Giants, there seemed to be a pause on the doom and gloom following the 49ers’ row of injuries at MetLife Field, which included Jimmy Garoppolo.
Garoppolo suffered a high ankle sprain and did not practice for the following two weeks. On Wednesday, he returned to practice, and practice again Thursday, both in limited fashion.
General manager John Lynch joined the Tolbert, Krueger and Brooks Show to discuss Garoppolo, and leaned heavily towards the optimistic view.
“Jimmy is has done a really good job on this rehab,” Lynch said. “The good news is, now we’re through two days of practice and he’s been out there both days and I always think it’s a positive step when you practice Wednesday and you come back feeling a little better on Thursday. That’s typically a good sign when you don’t regress and instead, you’re making progress and I think that was the case today.
Lynch said the 49ers have to “make sure that everything’s right” and Garoppolo needs to prove he’s mobile and can protect himself, which is especially necessary given the fact that San Francisco has allowed a league-leading 28 quarterback hits this season, “but there’s been some good signs this week.”
Even for a team which lost Joe Staley, Mike McGlinchey, George Kittle and Kyle Juszczyk all at the same time last year, this season has been trying, Lynch said. Having to sign a player like Ziggy Ansah for a reported $3 million was a move that inched San Francisco ever closer to the $198.2 million salary cap limit.
Lynch confirmed the team, despite restructuring Dee Ford’s deal for immediate salary cap relief, is, “… pressing the limit pretty good. You can always be creative and figure out ways to get things done, but this year, it’s legit. I’m not just saying it. We’re up there pretty good.”
The roster is getting thin, and Lynch sounded ready to be done with the injury-related moves.
“I had no intention of testing our depth this much,” Lynch said. “At some point, people got to stop getting hurt because that’s hard when every week there’s three more guys, even if you’re getting some guys back and if we can do that, kind of slow down the guys going to the injury report, we are going to start getting some guys back and this team will get healthier and that depth can kind of show itself a little more.”
Listen to the full interview below.
