San Francisco 49ers: Player stock watch after first week of 2018 training camp

Quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo

There’s going to be a lot of pressure on quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo this season, and understandably so.

Garoppolo had his share of up-and-down moments in training camp last week. Chief among these, of course, was his deep-passing ability. Remember, this was the prime concern Pro Football Focus had when they questioned whether or not Garoppolo was destined to be the NFL’s next elite quarterback.

During Saturday’s practice, Garoppolo missed twice on two deep attempts to Marquise Goodwin. The two stayed after practice to work on technique, and it appeared to pay off the following day, especially with this 45-yard connection with Goodwin:

49ers.com’s Joe Fann described the play by writing, Garoppolo hit Goodwin on a 45-yard bomb down the right sideline during a full-team period. Goodwin beat Jimmie Ward and Garoppolo lofted a pass perfectly over his receiver’s shoulder.”

Garoppolo was happy with the result, as he told reporters after practice:

"It’s different throwing a go ball to Marquise than it is to another receiver. I’ve never had a receiver like Marquise where you have to change a couple of things, tweak a couple of things and you’re dropping, I don’t know, it just happens differently. That acclimation to one another is obviously growing and like I said, it was good to hit one today."

Sure, it’s just one play. But it’s an important one. Garoppolo struggled in this area during previous practices, so the ability to flash improvement is vital to his overall game moving forward.

And since Garoppolo never loses, his stock value won’t either.

Stock: Rising

The 49ers resume training camp with their second week, beginning on Tuesday, July 31 from Santa Clara.