San Francisco 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo suffered a gruesome torn ACL injury in Week 3 against the Kansas City Chiefs, abruptly ending a promising season that was filled so much early hype and excitement.
New England Patriots legend Tom Brady knows exactly what Garoppolo is going through. He tore his ACL in Week 1 of the 2008 season, also against the Chiefs. This was after Brady won his first league MVP award and had led the Patriots to a historic 16-0 regular season, which culminated in crushing a Super Bowl 42 loss to the New York Giants.
Talking to Jim Gray on Westwood One (h/t Tanya Ray Fox of Patriots Wire), Brady revealed that he texted Garoppolo and offered words of encouragement for the man that was supposed to succeed him in Foxborough.
"Yeah, I did text him. I just told him he will be back better than ever. It is a tough injury. I have been through it. I have seen obviously so many teammates over the years go through that injury.
It is very prevalent in football for one reason or another and it is a tough injury. It is a tough rehab. But he’s a tough guy. They are pretty good at that surgery these days, so he will be back soon and he will be back ready for next year I’m sure."
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Brady returned from the ACL tear at the age of 32 with a fine season in 2009, tossing 4,398 yards, 28 touchdowns and 13 interceptions. That led the Patriots to the AFC East division title, and Brady has been playing at an elite level ever since.
It's a classy gesture from Brady, and he's one of the many great NFL players to rebound after a gruesome ACL tear. Adrian Peterson tore his ACL late in the 2011 season, then returned to win the league MVP with the Minnesota Vikings. He rushed for 2,097 yards, just missing out on tying Eric Dickerson's single-season record of 2,105.
Garoppolo turns just 27 years of age in November, so time is simply on his side to recover and return to the superstar form we've seen early in his career. In the meantime, backup C.J. Beathard will likely take over as San Francisco's starting quarterback.
San Francisco traded for Garoppolo at last year's deadline in exchange for a second-round pick. After leading the team to a 5-0 finish in 2017, Garoppolo was awarded a five-year extension worth $137.5 million.
The 49ers were getting their money's worth in the early going of 2018. Hopefully, he'll recover smoothly and be back stronger than ever in 2019.
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