SANTA CLARA, Calif. – San Francisco 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan has yet to say explicitly who his starting quarterback is, but all signs point to the same person they have during preseason: current Jimmy Garoppolo.
In fact, it was Garoppolo himself on Wednesday who confirmed, however, that he will begin Sunday’s regular season opener game against the Detroit Lions.
“I told you a long time ago that I had a good feeling about it,” Garoppolo said. “I joked about it, but I always knew where it was and even now it’s official, I guess.”
That Garoppolo is expected to start against the Lions should come as no surprise, given everything Shanahan has said on the subject since it was first raised at the start of training camp on July 27th.
At the time, Shanahan was asked if he would have an open quarterback competition between Garoppolo and No. 3 general teammate Trey Lance. Shanahan said then Garoppolo is “our owner” and explained on several occasions that he believed it would be difficult for Lance to catch and beat Garoppolo for the initial job.
These are the statements Shanahan pointed out again Wednesday when he was given another chance to name the incumbent.
“I won’t answer because I feel like all you have to do is look at how I’ve spoken since July 27,” Shanahan said. “I almost wish I wasn’t a tough one, but I feel like you’ve been a little tough and keep asking. I think I’ve already answered that. So I’ll keep it up.”
As the camp and preseason unfolded, Shanahan openly acknowledged that Lance would play this season, at least situationally, but never said he believed Lance had come to Garoppolo.
During the last two weeks of the preseason, Shanahan began to hint that Garoppolo was the starter, saying he had a “good idea” of who the starter would be on Aug. 25 while refusing to make an announcement. Minutes later, Garoppolo also said he also had a good idea of who he would be while making a big smile.
Then the 49ers started using Garoppolo and Lance along with Garoppolo, who took most of the work with the initial attack and Lance got occasional chances. In the preseason final against the Las Vegas Raiders, Garoppolo and Lance rotated with the first-team offense during the first two units, with Garoppolo playing 14 snapshots against Lance’s 10th.
Throughout it all, Shanahan didn’t even call it a “competition” between Garoppolo and Lance, an important distinction he made sure to re-point to on Wednesday, while noting that Lance had gone through some of the blows and bruises. usual. which are natural for a novice quarterback.
“I never said they would compete,” Shanahan said. “I’ve always said that when a guy we think gives us more chances to win, we’ll never hesitate to make that decision, but I think it’s been, when you look at a rookie quarterback, I don’t think anything has been consistent. I think it’s gone up and down, some good, some bad. That’s exactly what you expect too. “
On Sunday, Garoppolo is expected to begin his fourth full season as a San Francisco starter, though he has started more than six games only once, in 2019. Including the playoffs, Garoppolo is 24-9 as a starter for the Niners and 26-9 in general.
Despite a turbulent season that saw the Niners move up to No. 3 in the draft to select Lance and speculation about his future with the team that followed him, Garoppolo said he was pleased with Shanahan’s communication and l ‘team all the time, although he acknowledged it was a “strange” situation.
During camp, Garoppolo stayed almost exclusively with the initial offense and had what Shanahan called “a low season as intense as it has been since I’ve been around him.”
Since Shanahan never referred to his quarterback status as a competition, Garoppolo said the same way he never felt in one.
“Not for me, no,” Garoppolo said. “I go there every day with a lot of consistency, the same attitude. It’s always a competition, but you’re competing against the defense during training camp and now we’re competing against Detroit this week. I’ve always been like this here. helped me stay consistent throughout this issue. “
All of this means the biggest quarterback questions the 49ers have on Sunday are whether Lance will debut and how he will be used if he does. He continues to work his way back from a “micro chip” fracture in what is believed to be his right index finger.
Lance suffered that injury on Aug. 29 and didn’t take shots or throw the ball in two workouts last week or in Monday’s session. Lance, however, re-launched the part of Wednesday’s practice open to the media.
Depending on Lance’s availability, the 49ers could remove Nate Sudfeld from the training squad to serve as a backup for Garoppolo against the Lions. The team used one of its four possible “protections” from the training squad in Sudfeld on Tuesday.
Asked what he expects to see from Lance against the Lions, Shanahan kept it simple.
“I hope he’s healthy enough to be in uniform,” Shanahan said. “That’s my hope right now.”