During Sunday’s season-ending loss to the Seahawks in Arizona, 49ers general manager John Lynch peered into a suite three doors down and thought he was looking at “an All-Pro team.”
There was quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo watching the game from on high. To his right was five-time Pro Bowl cornerback Richard Sherman. Below Sherman was eight-time Pro Bowl tackle Trent Williams. The 49ers’ top two wide receivers — Brandon Aiyuk and Deebo Samuel — and several others were there, too.
The image highlighted what the 49ers were missing for large chunks of the season as well as one of their top priorities in the offseason.
“We need those guys on the field, not in the suite watching the game,” Lynch said in Monday’s season-wrapup session with the media.
Garoppolo, who missed 10 games with multiple high ankle sprains from which he still hasn’t fully recovered, said durability would be his top offseason focus. He also missed 13 games in 2018 following an ACL tear, meaning that since signing a five-year, $137.5 million contract early in 2018, he’s started 32 regular-season games and missed 23.
“When I go into the offseason, I’ll make a list of goals for myself, whether it’s to work on my accuracy, work on intermediate throws,” Garoppolo said. “But the durability is number one right now. We’ll attack that.”
The quarterback didn’t offer any specifics about how his offseason regimen would change and he noted that his injuries “were a little bit of bad luck.”
“But you can’t associate everything with that,” he said. “So, yeah, I always try to look for new things for my body, new things to eat, new exercises, workout routines, whatever it is. I always try to mix things up in the offseason and try to find what works for me, but, yeah, it’ll be the same this offseason. Just try to get advice from people, talk to people, see what they’ve done in the past and it’s a bunch of things coming together, really.”
Injuries also were a major offseason topic two years ago after running back Jerick McKinnon and Garoppolo were lost for the season before the end of September and the 49ers finished 4-12. Following that season, Lynch and Kyle Shanahan restructured the training, strength and medical staffs. The alterations, however, didn’t help. The 49ers were peppered by injuries in 2019 and ravaged by them this past season.
Lynch said he still has “tremendous faith” in the team’s revamped performance staff and it didn’t sound like any big changes would be made in that area. Instead, he said the team would “turn every page and (look at) every detail” for ways to be healthier in 2021.
He said there was a bit of a domino effect in 2020. The 49ers played into February and then had a number of players who were still injured when training camp began in the summer. Ideally, teams have 90 healthy players for training camp. Lynch said the 49ers had 71, which stressed the roster right away.
“And I think there was a trickle-down effect that affects everybody on a roster when those guys aren’t there, and we got behind the 8-ball,” he said.
One prominent 49er, tight end George Kittle, wasn’t buying the long 2019 season as an explanation for the team’s 2020 woes. Kittle noted the Chiefs also played into February last year and are 14-2 right now with a first-round bye in the playoffs.
“It’s not an excuse at all,” Kittle said. “They figured it out. They figured out how to stay healthy. And they’re playing really good football.”
Kittle said he didn’t know how to prevent the ACL tears and high ankle sprains that made up the bulk of the 49ers’ long-term issues.
“It’s football, things happen,” he said. “We got kinda hit with a snowball and it went into an avalanche. … We’d have two guys come back (from injury) and lose three.”
Observers have noted that from Dee Ford to Jason Verrett to Kwon Alexander to Sherman, the 49ers have brought in a lot of players with recent injury histories and that all of them have missed significant time the past two seasons.
Shanahan acknowledged that on Monday. But he said that given salary-cap constraints, teams sometimes have to take a risk with an injured player because those players are usually less expensive to sign.
He noted that Verrett was an example of a low-cost risk that eventually paid off. The cornerback played four snaps in 2019 but started 13 games this past season and was sharp in nearly every one of them.
Verrett, in fact, was one of four 49ers on this season’s roster — along with McKinnon, Jordan Reed and Williams — who missed most, or all, of the previous season. The group ended up being remarkably healthy considering that background; Reed missed five games, which was the most among that group.
Verrett credited the 49ers with pulling him off the field in 2019 so that he could recover once and for all from a series of severe injuries he’d suffered the previous three seasons as a member of the Chargers. A free agent in March, he said Monday the care he received from the 49ers would be a factor in deciding whether he comes back.
“Seeing how they turned things around for me physically, mentally — it’s kind of hard to not want to come back,” he said. “It’s kind of hard not to see if we can work things out.”
As for Ford, he missed all but Week 1 with a back issue that remains problematic. Asked if the 49ers could rely on Ford to be one of their edge rushers for the upcoming season, Lynch said, “That’s a good question and one we’re looking for clarity on.”
Lynch continued: “Our sole focus right now is to help Dee in any way we can to get him healthy. I think everybody understands that we’re a better football team when he’s out there. He’s an impactful player, he’s a finisher and he’s pretty emblematic of the issues that plagued our team this year. The old saying is: The best ability is availability. And we weren’t available enough this year.”
The 49ers would save $6.1 million against the salary cap if they cut Ford. However, he has to be healthy before they can cut him outright.
The team’s other top edge rusher, Nick Bosa, tore his ACL in Week 2. Lynch said Bosa was going through his rehabilitation in Southern California. He said Bosa was “making tremendous progress” and the hope is that the pass rusher is ready for Week 1 of the upcoming season.
“The only thing with him is pulling him back so he’s not doing too much,” Lynch said.
Extra points
• Lynch said three teams — the Falcons, Lions and Jaguars — have filed paperwork to interview defensive coordinator Robert Saleh for their head-coaching openings. In addition, the Panthers want to talk with one of Lynch’s top two lieutenant’s in the front office, Adam Peters, about their general manager opening. Lynch also said he expected to get a request from another team about interviewing his other top assistant, Martin Mayhew, for a GM role.
• As for Saleh’s possible replacement, Shanahan said he “absolutely” would consider promoting linebackers coach DeMeco Ryans to defensive coordinator if that opening needs to be filled.
“It’s a matter of time before DeMeco is a coordinator in this league, a matter of time before he’s a head coach,” Shanahan said.
Shanahan said he’s not married to the type of system that Saleh’s run for the past four seasons. If Saleh left, however, there might be several candidates, in addition to Ryans, with experience with the scheme: the Chargers’ Gus Bradley, the Falcons’ Raheem Morris and former Falcons head coach Dan Quinn.
• Shanahan said the 49ers would spend more time looking at quarterbacks in the upcoming offseason, but mainly because Garoppolo is the only passer under contract for 2021. Nick Mullens is a restricted free agent and C.J. Beathard is unrestricted.
“You have to look into everything when you’re trying to fill out a quarterback roster,” he said. “We have a starting quarterback. But we have to either re-sign the guys we’ve got or see if we can upgrade ’em through the draft or free agency. In order to do that, you have to evaluate everything, so you know how to stack ’em and stuff. So we’ll definitely be looking at more of that stuff this year than we did last year.”
There was quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo watching the game from on high. To his right was five-time Pro Bowl cornerback Richard Sherman. Below Sherman was eight-time Pro Bowl tackle Trent Williams. The 49ers’ top two wide receivers — Brandon Aiyuk and Deebo Samuel — and several others were there, too.
The image highlighted what the 49ers were missing for large chunks of the season as well as one of their top priorities in the offseason.
“We need those guys on the field, not in the suite watching the game,” Lynch said in Monday’s season-wrapup session with the media.
Garoppolo, who missed 10 games with multiple high ankle sprains from which he still hasn’t fully recovered, said durability would be his top offseason focus. He also missed 13 games in 2018 following an ACL tear, meaning that since signing a five-year, $137.5 million contract early in 2018, he’s started 32 regular-season games and missed 23.
“When I go into the offseason, I’ll make a list of goals for myself, whether it’s to work on my accuracy, work on intermediate throws,” Garoppolo said. “But the durability is number one right now. We’ll attack that.”
The quarterback didn’t offer any specifics about how his offseason regimen would change and he noted that his injuries “were a little bit of bad luck.”
“But you can’t associate everything with that,” he said. “So, yeah, I always try to look for new things for my body, new things to eat, new exercises, workout routines, whatever it is. I always try to mix things up in the offseason and try to find what works for me, but, yeah, it’ll be the same this offseason. Just try to get advice from people, talk to people, see what they’ve done in the past and it’s a bunch of things coming together, really.”
Injuries also were a major offseason topic two years ago after running back Jerick McKinnon and Garoppolo were lost for the season before the end of September and the 49ers finished 4-12. Following that season, Lynch and Kyle Shanahan restructured the training, strength and medical staffs. The alterations, however, didn’t help. The 49ers were peppered by injuries in 2019 and ravaged by them this past season.
Lynch said he still has “tremendous faith” in the team’s revamped performance staff and it didn’t sound like any big changes would be made in that area. Instead, he said the team would “turn every page and (look at) every detail” for ways to be healthier in 2021.
He said there was a bit of a domino effect in 2020. The 49ers played into February and then had a number of players who were still injured when training camp began in the summer. Ideally, teams have 90 healthy players for training camp. Lynch said the 49ers had 71, which stressed the roster right away.
“And I think there was a trickle-down effect that affects everybody on a roster when those guys aren’t there, and we got behind the 8-ball,” he said.
One prominent 49er, tight end George Kittle, wasn’t buying the long 2019 season as an explanation for the team’s 2020 woes. Kittle noted the Chiefs also played into February last year and are 14-2 right now with a first-round bye in the playoffs.
“It’s not an excuse at all,” Kittle said. “They figured it out. They figured out how to stay healthy. And they’re playing really good football.”
Kittle said he didn’t know how to prevent the ACL tears and high ankle sprains that made up the bulk of the 49ers’ long-term issues.
“It’s football, things happen,” he said. “We got kinda hit with a snowball and it went into an avalanche. … We’d have two guys come back (from injury) and lose three.”
Observers have noted that from Dee Ford to Jason Verrett to Kwon Alexander to Sherman, the 49ers have brought in a lot of players with recent injury histories and that all of them have missed significant time the past two seasons.
Shanahan acknowledged that on Monday. But he said that given salary-cap constraints, teams sometimes have to take a risk with an injured player because those players are usually less expensive to sign.
He noted that Verrett was an example of a low-cost risk that eventually paid off. The cornerback played four snaps in 2019 but started 13 games this past season and was sharp in nearly every one of them.
Verrett, in fact, was one of four 49ers on this season’s roster — along with McKinnon, Jordan Reed and Williams — who missed most, or all, of the previous season. The group ended up being remarkably healthy considering that background; Reed missed five games, which was the most among that group.
Verrett credited the 49ers with pulling him off the field in 2019 so that he could recover once and for all from a series of severe injuries he’d suffered the previous three seasons as a member of the Chargers. A free agent in March, he said Monday the care he received from the 49ers would be a factor in deciding whether he comes back.
“Seeing how they turned things around for me physically, mentally — it’s kind of hard to not want to come back,” he said. “It’s kind of hard not to see if we can work things out.”
As for Ford, he missed all but Week 1 with a back issue that remains problematic. Asked if the 49ers could rely on Ford to be one of their edge rushers for the upcoming season, Lynch said, “That’s a good question and one we’re looking for clarity on.”
Lynch continued: “Our sole focus right now is to help Dee in any way we can to get him healthy. I think everybody understands that we’re a better football team when he’s out there. He’s an impactful player, he’s a finisher and he’s pretty emblematic of the issues that plagued our team this year. The old saying is: The best ability is availability. And we weren’t available enough this year.”
The 49ers would save $6.1 million against the salary cap if they cut Ford. However, he has to be healthy before they can cut him outright.
The team’s other top edge rusher, Nick Bosa, tore his ACL in Week 2. Lynch said Bosa was going through his rehabilitation in Southern California. He said Bosa was “making tremendous progress” and the hope is that the pass rusher is ready for Week 1 of the upcoming season.
“The only thing with him is pulling him back so he’s not doing too much,” Lynch said.
Extra points
• Lynch said three teams — the Falcons, Lions and Jaguars — have filed paperwork to interview defensive coordinator Robert Saleh for their head-coaching openings. In addition, the Panthers want to talk with one of Lynch’s top two lieutenant’s in the front office, Adam Peters, about their general manager opening. Lynch also said he expected to get a request from another team about interviewing his other top assistant, Martin Mayhew, for a GM role.
• As for Saleh’s possible replacement, Shanahan said he “absolutely” would consider promoting linebackers coach DeMeco Ryans to defensive coordinator if that opening needs to be filled.
“It’s a matter of time before DeMeco is a coordinator in this league, a matter of time before he’s a head coach,” Shanahan said.
Shanahan said he’s not married to the type of system that Saleh’s run for the past four seasons. If Saleh left, however, there might be several candidates, in addition to Ryans, with experience with the scheme: the Chargers’ Gus Bradley, the Falcons’ Raheem Morris and former Falcons head coach Dan Quinn.
• Shanahan said the 49ers would spend more time looking at quarterbacks in the upcoming offseason, but mainly because Garoppolo is the only passer under contract for 2021. Nick Mullens is a restricted free agent and C.J. Beathard is unrestricted.
“You have to look into everything when you’re trying to fill out a quarterback roster,” he said. “We have a starting quarterback. But we have to either re-sign the guys we’ve got or see if we can upgrade ’em through the draft or free agency. In order to do that, you have to evaluate everything, so you know how to stack ’em and stuff. So we’ll definitely be looking at more of that stuff this year than we did last year.”
