49ers’ first three games in 2019 should benefit Jimmy Garoppolo

By no means do the San Francisco 49ers have an easy NFL schedule in 2019. But the first three contests should help quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo back on track this season.

According to CBS Sports’ John Breech, the San Francisco 49ers have the 11th most difficult NFL schedule in 2019, based off opponents’ winning percentages from last year.

It’s not going to be an easy season, especially considering the Niners haven’t exactly been road winners under head coach Kyle Shanahan, and they’ll have to endure four trips to the Eastern Time Zone this season.

And a Week 4 bye is far from ideal, too.

That all said, the first three games of 2019 might actually play into the benefit of quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo.

Just take a look at the start of the schedule:

Provided by Pro-Football-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 5/29/2019.

Garoppolo, who is coming back into the fray slowly after tearing his ACL in Week 3 against the Kansas City Chiefs last year, will understandably have to go through some proverbial “shaking off of the rust” early during the season. And it’s certainly one of the reasons why Hall of Fame running back Terrell Davis told NFL Network’s Lindsay Rhodes why he thinks Jimmy G struggles early on.

“That knee just doesn’t come around like you want it,” Davis said (h/t David Bonilla of 49ers Webzone). “Really, the next year it’s going to feel fine. I know he got injured early in the season and he’s a quarterback, but still, it takes time for that knee to get right.

“This year, he’ll be getting used to it, so maybe later in the season he gets better.”

But the first three games of 2019 could suggest otherwise.

San Francisco will have plenty of prep time for a Week 1 road contest against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who are coming off a 2018 campaign in which they boasted the league’s second worst scoring defense. Yes, they brought aboard former Denver Broncos EDGE Shaquil Barrett and selected LSU linebacker Devin White with their first pick in the 2019 NFL Draft. But one offseason likely won’t be enough to completely rectify all that went wrong with the Bucs defense a year ago.

The Niners’ Week 2 opponent, the Cincinnati Bengals, were arguably worse in 2018. No team gave up more yards than the Bengals a year ago (6,618), and they also allowed the third most points last season (455). First-year head coach Zac Taylor, who is offensive minded, could take a while to get things heading in the right direction. And the Bengals didn’t do a whole lot, defensively, during the offseason to suggest that side of the ball will improve dramatically.

Things could get a bit interesting in Week 3 against the Pittsburgh Steelers, however, as their defense showed some noted improvement in 2018. Adding Michigan State cornerback Justin Layne and Michigan linebacker Devin Bush help reinforce a still-good defense.

Yet the Steelers will be coming off what could be a tough, physical home contest against the 49ers’ NFC West division rivals, the Seattle Seahawks, and the Niners being at home helps negate the Steelers defense to a certain point.

The point of all this, however, is to suggest Garoppolo and the 49ers won’t have to start 2019 with an impossible three-set slate of games before the bye week. Garoppolo can afford to make a handful of mistakes early on, especially in the first two weeks, where his opposing defenses aren’t exactly top notch.

And if testing the knee is any concern, perhaps it’s a good thing San Francisco will have the early bye week to rest, strengthen and rehabilitate the knee, while taking a look at how Garoppolo’s on-field return went.