What the 49ers are saying about Jimmy Garoppolo after Trey Lance’s injury

The San Francisco 49ers’ decision to keep quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo on the roster seemed to pay off when Trey Lance went down with a season-ending injury in the first quarter of the 49ers’ 27-7 win over the Seattle Seahawks on Sept. 18.

When last season ended, the 49ers had planned to trade Garoppolo in the offseason and make Lance, the third overall pick in the 2021 draft, the starter, according to NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport.

The trade never happened, and San Francisco locked Garoppolo up as its backup quarterback with a restructured contract on Aug. 29. “Garoppolo’s new deal is worth $6.5 million fully guaranteed with incentives that can push it to close to $16 million,” NFL.com reported.

Garoppolo, who has dealt with plenty of injuries of his own, was the 49ers’ starting quarterback for much of the past five seasons. He led the team to the Super Bowl in 2019.

Here’s what the 49ers are saying about Garoppolo starting again:

What 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan said about Jimmy Garoppolo

Lance’s injury represented the third time in Kyle Shanahan’s six seasons as 49ers head coach that the team lost its starting quarterback to a season-ending injury, according to ESPN.

When Shanahan addressed the media in his postgame press conference on Sept. 18, he said he believes the team is better prepared to continue this season than in the past.

“We feel very fortunate to have Jimmy here as our No. 2 quarterback, and especially when your starter gets hurt, it’s good to know the experience and how good of a player he is,” he said. “We have been in this before, and I do feel we’re a little more prepared with our backup right now.”

Shanahan doesn’t appear to be worried about bringing Garoppolo up to speed and building chemistry with his new receivers, according to the 49ers’ website.

“I do think that stuff’s a little overrated,” he said. “If they’re open, he’s usually going to hit them.”

What Jimmy Garoppolo’s teammates are saying about him

When Lance was being placed on the medical cart, linebacker and former BYU Cougar Fred Warner was caught on camera comforting the injured quarterback. Warner was heard saying, “We got your back.”

Warner spoke to NBC Sports about how the team will overcome the loss of their starting quarterback.

“We’ve faced adversity in the past, and we’re kind of going through that right now,” he said. “We lost Trey, but having (Garoppolo) is great for us and we’re gonna need him to play great for us.”

During the game against the Seahawks, the coaching staff informed fullback Kyle Juszczyk that he was the emergency quarterback should anything happen to Garoppolo.

“I told Jimmy in the locker room, I said ‘Hey man, don’t make me play quarterback today,’” he told NBC Sports in a postgame interview. “And he promised he was going to do everything he could to not let that happen.” 

Jokes aside, Juszczyk expressed his trust in the former starter.

“But, unfortunately, these are the reasons you buy insurance,” he said. “And to have someone like Jimmy who can come in there and do what we’ve been doing for years, it was definitely a good thing. But I don’t want to downplay how much we feel for Trey, man. It’s really unfortunate.”