The not so good from Day 2 of 49ers minicamp: Jimmy Garoppolo completes 8 of 20 passes

Posted By on June 13, 2018

San Francisco 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo (10) gestures in front of C.J. Beathard (3) and Nick Mullens (4) during NFL football practice at the team’s headquarters in Santa Clara, Calif., Wednesday, June 13, 2018. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

SANTA CLARA – Here’s what stood out to me during Wednesday’s minicamp. Usually, I start with the positives, but today I’m not.

THE NOT SO GOOD

  1. QB Jimmy Garoppolo. A day after Garoppolo repeatedly botched the cadence of the snap count, he completed only eight of 20 passes – 40 percent. He completed three of his first four throws, then missed 11 of his final 16. And he missed every deep pass he attempted. He seems to have regressed since last season, when he was on fire. Maybe he just had a bad week.
  2. QB C.J. Beathard. He lowered his throwing motion to a three-quarters release, and threw three passes that got batted down at the line of scrimmage.
  3. CB Tyvis Powell. The offense picked on him almost every time it needed a big play. He gave up a crucial 12-yard catch to Kendrick Bourne a crucial fourth-and-6, and got burned deep by Aldrick Robinson. After that play, Richard Sherman threw his hand up in frustration while standing on the sideline. Powell has been the 49ers’ starting left corner since OTAs – he is the primary backup for Richard Sherman, who allegedly will return during training camp. Powell better not have to play a single snap next season. He’s worse than Dontae Johnson, last year’s starting corner.
  4. WR Dante Pettis. He missed Wednesday’s practice with an injury he suffered at the end of Tuesday’s practice.

THE GOOD

  1. RB Jerrick McKinnon. On the third play of practice, he ran a Texas route over the middle, caught a short pass from Garoppolo and broke through the middle of the defense for what appeared to be a 70-yard touchdown. But, the coaching staff marked him down after a gain of 30.
  2. CB Richard Sherman. He participated in all of the positional drills with the other cornerbacks, and he walked through the various defensive play calls with the rest of the starters just before the team began to scrimmage. He sat out that portion of practice. But, he seems on track to practice fully during training camp, which starts on July 26.
  3. CB Ahkello Witherspoon. Garoppolo rarely tests Witherspoon during practice – why test him when you can throw on Tyvis Powell all day? But, Garoppolo did test Witherspoon once at the end of practice. Witherspoon was covering Aldrick Robinson, who ran a post route into the end zone. Witherspoon read Garoppolo’s eyes, broke early on the pass, undercut the receiver and dropped an easy interception.
  4. WR Kendrick Bourne. He seemed to be Garoppolo’s go-to guy in critical situations. On third-and-6 during a two-minute drill, Garoppolo threw to Bourne and missed him. The next play, fourth-and-six, Garoppolo threw to Bourne again, and this time they connected for a 12-yard gain. Bourne is in terrific shape. He looks like an NFL receiver.
  5. WR Richie James. James does NOT look like an NFL receiver – he’s small and skinny. He looks like he’s still in college. But, he made a professional play on Wednesday – he made the catch of the day. He ran deep down the sideline, jumped over a corner, reached up to catch the ball and landed with both feet in bounds. He’s a natural.
  6. DL Solomon Thomas. Thomas started at defensive tackle in the 49ers nickel defense – a good sign for the future. And during team drills, he actually used a spin move, instead of rushing straight into the blocker. The spin move didn’t work, and Thomas got nowhere, but hey, he’s trying.

This article has 38 Comments

  1. Who got some mr. positive genes? Grant is going to ruin his reputation if he is too much sunshine and rainbows!Not worried about James ,who shermancalls his qb as Jimmy is a boys name, better to have Pettisgo through tweets now than in August , hope I am wrong about protections this year and they make the playoffs, healthy Sherman could be huge!

  2. I didn’t know it was opposites day. “He seems to have regressed since last season, when he was on fire”. Ha, does that mean he’s down to embers? Just for a heads up, Johnson is down with an injury. Thanks for the report, Grant.

  5. McKinnon adds so much to this offense.

    OL penalties again this year with new players and Cooper still hasn’t practiced.

    Witherspoon is gaining confidence. I think he will be more of a ballhawk this year, at least 5 INTs.

    1. If Sherman’s health teams will be forced to throw his way. I’m eager to see how Spoon plays this season.

      1. He will be Sherman’s prodigy. What do you think, legion of boom in Ninernation?

  7. I do not see the point in such negative and pointless article. This is camp, which means it’s a learning environment. Breaking down our Franchise QB and criticizing him is a cheap and self serving move. I have read your articles for years, and you are by far the worst beat writer covering the 49ers. Pointless opinionated drivel best consumed by printing it out and wiping my behind with it. You know what they say about a-holes, right?

    1. “I have read your articles for years, and you are by far the worst beat writer covering the 49ers.”

      And yet you continue to come back year after year and read his stuff. He must be doing something right, after all that’s what a writer wants is readers!

      1. Could be that some posters enjoy the interaction with other posters. and/or the entertainment value of what they offer. A few have indicated such in prior debate over why people come to this blog.

        I come here for the fun of reading the variety of posts–not for Grant’s brilliant contributions. I do like tracking Grant’s occasionally over-the-top assertions, and love it when they turn out to be way off the mark. Grant’s flip-flop takes are very amusing also.

        1. What stimulates those debates? No question that this blog is about the posters, always has been. Like I said he must be doing something right or this place would dry up like most blogs do. Don’t take it that I agree with Grant, sometimes I do sometimes I don’t.

        2. I come here to appreciate the cast of characters here who could constitute a Dostoevsky novel — or an essay such as “Dostoevsky and Hubris — the Cult of the Ego”!!!

  8. Hmmm, maybe JG is used to Goodwin, who could have run fast enough to catch those deep balls.
    .
    Person played RG, but other reports have him getting beat on the pass rush. Attaochu beat him. Wonder if Garnett will win by default.
    .
    Looks like they were showcasing Aldrick Robinson. Sounds like he did OK.
    .
    The lack of sync with the false starts is disconcerting. Glad they worked on it after official practice

  9. The bad comes first in your world? I’d hate to be you. If negativity is your primary mode of conversation, you must be a real downer at parties.

  10. The only thing of note here is Bourne continues to show out, if he stays focused we might have a star in the making. Our wr corp is super deep, considering the options last year( Louis Murphy)…..JG might be unstoppable, esp if they get the ground game going. He struggles with the deep ball, not breaking news…..with a infielder wind up, its to be expected…..but shouldn’t be a concern at this point.
    OG seems to be a disaster waiting to happen, I’m still dumbfounded that position wasn’t thoroughly addressed in the off-season…….

    2. I agree on wr corp being much deeper this year…..moreover, I don’t really understand what the big deal is with the deep ball.

      It might stretch the opposing defense and keep them guessing, but more often that not, it will tire out our own defense by bringing them back too quickly onto the field.

  11. Like he is never going to have bad days. This is life there are tons of ups and downs. Jimmy will be fine.

  12. I have a little riddle for you Grant:

    What do you call a skinny wideout from a small school, who goes 5’9″ 185 lbs soaking wet? Wait for it ….

    – “A NATURAL”? yah, that’s it.

    And what do you call a bigger bodied, big school wideout who goes 6’1″ 195 lbs, and happens to be the NCAA all-time record holder for punt return TD’s? All of that vision, and all of those elusive, open field jukes along the way to his NCAA record, while tacking on an impressive 25 additional receiving TD’s? What’s the word you’d use to describe him?

    – I guess you’d call him “LUCKY #8”?

    SMH!

      1. lol. I just think it’s funny that you have no problem knocking Pettis’ NFL potential due to his slight build, yet you give Richie James a pass on his even slighter build, which you excuse because of his “natural ability”. I am pretty sure that, if the 49ers had selected James in round 2, you wouldn’t be discussing him as a “natural”. You simply aren’t very good at disguising your bias Grant, and this is an example. Every season you find 1 or 2 Niners whom you either didn’t like as draft prospects, or didn’t like as free agents, and you go out of your way to criticize them for things which you give other players a pass on.

        As you know, Pettis didn’t just standout as a punt returner in college. He was a fantastic WR whom plenty of scouts felt like was perhaps the most developed NCAA route runner in 2017, along with Calvin Ridley (6’1″ 186 lbs), who BTW, has an even slighter build than Pettis (6’1″ 195 lbs). By all accounts Pettis had a stand out practice on Wed, but, you apparently weren’t there, so rather than accepting that Pettis stood out in the eyes of your colleagues, you simply poo-poo these multiple reports and brush them aside as if everyone else must have gotten it wrong.

          1. You know nothing, you do nothing, you say nothing of importance. This is the most you will ever do with your life. I know it seems personal that I say this, but frankly these basically mirror your comments about others.

            Have a nice disappointing life with your negative attitude and substandard journalism.

  13. This is from another report, you said in periscope that someone would write something positive about Powell, funny.
    “Cornerback Tyvis Powell distinguished himself for the second day in a row, serving as Richard Sherman’s backup while Jimmie Ward remained on the shelf with a sore ankle. Powell thwarted a slew of passes to the right side of the field, including a few in the end zone to McKinnon and Matt Breida, much shorter and quicker players.”

  14. Not too worried about JG struggling in an OTA. This is time to learn and mistakes will be made when learning. JG’s accuracy was outstanding last year so I’m really not too worried about that either. The only thing I really want to happen in OTA’s is to come out of it with a healthy roster.

  15. Good job today grant. Also nice article on jimmy’s struggles during training camp. I’m not worried. This is the kind of reporting I knew you had in you. I know you have to do the click bait stuff for your numbers but overall good reporting. And for those of you who think grant has totally gone soft check out not so good number 3. As far as Pettis goes , every one gets nicked up in training camp.

  16. Grant….question for you.

    What are your impressions of the Team as a whole……comparing it to the same time (just before Training Camp) last year? Do you think the team is better or worse?

  18. 8-20 is pretty bad. It is June and in the scheme of things no reason to push the panic button. I still haven’t heard much input on Jimmy’s footwork, an issue many of the film study gurus pointed out. Is he making progress or is his footwork still screwed up?

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