Jimmy Garoppolo’s recovery from offseason shoulder surgery is going according to plan, and he appears on track to be ready by the time training camps open.
Matt Barrows of the Athletic reported the throwing portion of Garoppolo’s rehab began within the last three weeks. Via the Athletic:
According to a source with knowledge of the situation, Garoppolo resumed throwing two to three weeks ago. His March surgery was performed by Los Angeles orthopedic surgeon Dr. Neal ElAttrache, who has a strong track record with the 49ers. ElAttrache handled the ACL surgeries for Garoppolo (2018), Nick Bosa (2020) and Solomon Thomas (2020), and each had the best season of his career the year following the surgery.
If Garoppolo began throwing in the last two or three weeks, that means he’ll have upwards of four or five weeks of throwing before camps open.
Dr. Nirav Pandya from UCSF Hospitals recently said in a radio interview that the throwing program for a shoulder surgery like the one Garoppolo had can take four-to-six weeks before the player is back to making deeper, high-velocity throws.
Any team acquiring Garoppolo either via trade or as a free agent will want to see how his throwing arm looks post-surgery. If he’s anywhere close to 100 percent he’d have plenty of time to ramp all the way up before the first or second preseason game.
Assuming the throwing program goes well, Garoppolo won’t quite be out of the woods. Throwing in a controlled environment is one step, but throwing with pressure and while taking hits is another. Plus, he’ll need to see how his shoulder reacts after taking a hit in an NFL game.
It’s a good sign for the veteran QB that his March surgery hasn’t suffered any major setbacks. If he’s able to land in a spot where he can compete for a starting job, he looks to be on track to be ready for the start of the regular season.
