Last year was a tough one for San Francisco 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, but luckily he had teammate Jerick McKinnon by his side going through a similar ordeal. Garoppolo tore his ACL just a few weeks into the season and missed the rest of the year, and McKinnon had already torn an ACL during training camp.
During a recent interview with Vinnie Iyer of Sporting News, Garoppolo opened up about his rehab and talked about how McKinnon's shared experience helped him.
“Initially, it was very tough. Mentally, it was hard accepting that you had put all this work in during the offseason and you don't get to see any of it go through. But having Jerick McKinnon (torn ACL last August) around, as we were both rehabbing at the same time and talking to guys who had been in that situation before, really helped,” he explained.
“To get back for OTAs the way I did, and that I was able to participate, I couldn't have asked for much more. I'm feeling good going into training camp.”
Garoppolo's initial feelings of frustration are of course understandable. There was a lot of buzz and excitement around this 49ers teams heading into last season, but the year quickly got derailed by injuries.
Garooppolo never got to show whether he can live up to the massive contract he signed and didn't get the chance to show his five great starts toward the end of the 2017 season weren't a fluke.
McKinnon signed a big deal last offseason and was supposed to be the team's starting running back, and didn't end up getting to play in a single game. Hopefully, both players bounce back nicely with healthy 2019 seasons.
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