49ers
While 49ers QB Jimmy Garoppolo‘s chances to start have been limited the past few seasons, with a combination of injuries, midseason trades and backing up Tom Brady in New England relegating him to the bench instead of the field, expectations for Garoppolo are high. Part of that is Garoppolo’s time behind Brady, which he says has been invaluable to his development.
“The preparation as a whole was tremendous just to see it, to be in the same room as it, to learn from it,” Garoppolo said via The Ringer’s Kevin Clark. “To be a rookie and see that, it was invaluable. I can barely put it into words. What you learn is playing the game within the game, that’s a big part of Tom. I don’t even know if he told me that [directly], but he would always talk about the game within the game. He would talk about the snap count, and he’d say ‘you’re going to go on two on this play’ and he’d have a specific reason.”
Cardinals
- Darren Urban of the official team website writes time is running out for Cardinals DT Robert Nkemdiche, who is likely to start camp on the PUP list and was arrested for speeding with a suspended license as he enters the last year of his contract.
- Cardinals signed supplemental S Jalen Thompson. (NFLTR)
- Cardinals waived OT Desmond Harrison.
Lions
Lions S Tracy Walker played well in a limited role as a rookie third-round pick in 2018, now his role is set to expand. The Lions will be counting on Walker to step into a starting spot and replace the recently retired Glover Quin.
“I think Tracy last year… showed us a lot of growth through the year,” HC Matt Patricia said via Tim Twentyman of the official team website. “He showed us the skillset that he had, and it was probably a little more expansive than maybe what we originally thought when we looked at him on film coming out of college. He was asked to do certain things in college, so we thought we saw some things that potentially he could do and then was able to see that live out on the field when he got here kind of reconfirmed some things that we might be able to do with him, which was always good.
“This year is different. Everybody’s back out there, the team has changed, the defense has changed, and the personnel has changed. He’s out there competing with everybody right now and trying to build on what he did last year. I think certainly in the NFL, every team starts over every year. There’s no carryover from one year to the next. It’s all new, so he’s in the same boat as everybody else. He’s just trying to learn and get better in all those areas.”
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