The San Francisco 49ers will be seeing a familiar face when Las Vegas Raiders quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo and Co. host the Bay Area team for a pair of joint practices this weekend, prior to the duo's preseason game on Sunday.
Garoppolo, who signed a three-year, $67.5 million deal with the Raiders in the offseason, recently was integrated into his new team after passing a physical at the beginning camp, which could've had significant ramifications for the quarterback, as a clause in his contract required the clearance to play at that stage, otherwise, Las Vegas could've voided the deal and saved money.
However, all of that is in the past as Garoppolo is settling in with the Raiders, where he's begun to closely work with head coach Josh McDaniels, who was the quarterback's offensive coordinator during his first stint in the NFL with the New England Patriots.
"It was awesome, man [to work together with head Josh McDaniels with the offensive install]. I always saw Josh [McDaniels] and Tom [Brady] do that back in New England. I thought it was really cool. That's just smart football when the play caller and the quarterback are working together like that," Garoppolo said during his presser prior to camp.
Perhaps, in his praise of McDaniels, Garoppolo was throwing some slight shade at 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan, who publicly didn't seem to have the best relationship with his quarterback when it came to on-the-field play.
But, all is forgotten, as Garoppolo is ready to start joint practices and see some familiar faces, which begins this Thursday and Friday prior to the preseason bout on Sunday.
"I'm excited, man. It'll be cool to see some familiar faces, players, coaches," Garoppolo said of the joint practices.
Based on training camp reports out of Vegas, it appeared Garoppolo has struggled with ball security when going up against his own defense, although head coach Josh McDaniels shut down any potential worries with his starting quarterback.
Going up against one of the best defenses in the NFL, and a familiar grouping for Garoppolo, we'll see how the quarterback plays in a new system with different weapons for the first time.
Garoppolo enjoyed a six-year stint with the 49ers, of which he was the starting quarterback for the first five, accumulating 13,599 passing yards, 82 touchdowns, and 42 interceptions during that span.
He enjoyed a fairly strong record when starting games in San Francisco, going 38-17 in the regular season, while seeing appearances to the NFC Championship Game twice, with a Super Bowl sprinkled in as well.
However, the quarterback was regularly hurt, which was a reason why the 49ers traded three first-round picks to select Trey Lance in the 2021 NFL Draft, although injuries have derailed the start of the young signal-caller's career as well.
Garoppolo, though, will see a full circle when facing his old team on Thursday and Friday, where the competitive juices will be as high as ever between the two sides.
