An NFL ban on team offseason activities has limited most teams to online video discussions in lieu of practice and classroom time. Jimmy Garoppolo and the 49ers receivers are taking it a step further. The quarterback has organized workouts with his receivers at San Jose State to help implement some of the things the team goes over in their video meetings.
Garoppolo told Matt Barrows of the Athletic that the individual sessions allow him and his receivers to work on some of the more intricate details they don’t get the time to go over in typical team workouts.
“It’s valuable whenever you get an opportunity to get on a field with guys — without coaches — and be able to talk,” Garoppolo said in the Athletic in a full breakdown of the workouts. “Really, out here I like to hear how they’re seeing things, too. I like to teach them a route, how I see it and ask them, ‘How do you see it?’ Because in practice you don’t get that time. Because out here it’s a unique experience. Guys kind of get to let loose a little bit, too. So it makes things fun.”
Kendrick Bourne, a frequent attendee of the workouts, has been actively posting about them on social media. Jalen Hurd and Brandon Aiyuk also posted photos from the sessions on Instagram. Other players in attendance according to Barrows have been Kyle Juszczyk, Dante Pettis, Shawn Poindexter, Trent Taylor and Chris Thompson.
With so many question marks at the receiver position, and Garoppolo needing a big year to build on his success from 2019, these player-only workouts could be a key to an improved 49ers passing attack in 2020. If the quarterback can get more comfortable with the receiving corps and an additional two or three pass catchers elevate their play going into camp, a potentially thin receiver group could become one of the team’s deepest units. They’d also have a full group on the same page with their quarterback.
Garoppolo’s gunslinger style allows him to stand in the pocket, hold the ball longer, and fit throws into tight windows that some quarterbacks may be hesitant to throw into. While those tendencies led to some bad turnovers that marred an otherwise very good year, a better rapport with his receivers could put Garoppolo in a better position to anticipate plays and get rid of the ball quicker while the throwing window is wider.
The most important thing for the 49ers will be these workouts translating into success on Sundays. All the preseason work in the world doesn’t matter if the players regress to old habits when the action is live. Garoppolo’s offseason sessions should be helpful in establishing strong enough connections that they’re more second nature by the time the 49ers are scheduled to begin its regular season on September 13.
If they start winning at the rate they did last season, and Garoppolo puts together another Super Bowl run, it’ll be impossible to not look back at the San Jose State workouts as one of the catalysts for the bounce-back year.
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