NFL World Reacts To Wednesday's Jimmy Garoppolo Announcement

The San Francisco 49ers continue to roll with Brock Purdy behind center.

The 49ers enter Sunday's marquee divisional matchup against the Dallas Cowboys having won 11 games in a row, with Purdy, the seventh-round rookie, having started six of them.

As a result, all indications are that head coach Kyle Shanahan and the 49ers will stick with Purdy as far as he can carry the team this season.

But if the team needs another quarterback for the playoffs, it does look like it will have a proven option available.

David Lombardi, who covers the 49ers for the Athletic, tweeted that Jimmy Garoppolo was spotted walking around the team facility without a boot on his injured foot Wednesday. 

That lends further credence to a report from earlier this month that Garoppolo could be healthy enough to return to the field in time for the NFC Championship game, if the team needs him.

"Jimmy Garoppolo was in the 49ers' locker room walking around in tennis shoes today," Lombardi tweeted. "First time I've seen him without a boot. Timeline checks out: This past Sunday was the 6-week mark post-broken foot."

Garoppolo, who started each of the previous three seasons for the 49ers (when healthy), returned to the team as the backup to Trey Lance this season. He took over behind center after Lance broke his ankle in Week Two. Garoppolo led the 49ers to a 7-3 record in 10 starts before suffering a broken bone of his own against the Miami Dolphins in Week 13.

With Purdy playing so well — he's thrown multiple touchdown passes in each of his seven appearances this season — a report emerged Saturday that the 49ers plan to keep starting "Mr. Irrelevant," even if Garoppolo is cleared to play.

It appears that would be the preference of 49ers fans, the majority of whom are all aboard the Purdy hype train.

"Welcome back Jimmy!" one fan tweeted in response to the Garoppolo news. "Watch and learn."

"Keep the Jordans on bud you won't be needing cleats," wrote another.

While the 49er fanbase may be excited about Purdy, a few acknowledged that it would be nice insurance to have Garoppolo, who led the 49ers to an appearance in Super Bowl LIV, available should the team beat the Cowboys on Sunday and advance to the conference championship game — especially given the team's injury luck at quarterback this season.