The San Francisco 49ers lost their starting quarterback for the season Sunday when Jimmy Garoppolo tore his ACL during a loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.
Tom Brady feels his pain.
Brady, who played three-and-a-half seasons with Garoppolo in New England, offered his former Patriots understudy some words of encouragement in the wake of his injury.
“Yeah, I did text him,” Brady said during his weekly Monday night interview on Westwood One. “I just told him he’ll be back better than ever. It’s a tough injury. I’ve been through it. I’ve seen, obviously, so many teammates over the years go through that injury. It’s very prevalent in football for one reason or another, and it’s a tough injury. It’s a tough rehab.
“But he’s a tough guy. They’re pretty good at that surgery these days, so he’ll be back soon, and he’ll be back ready for next year, I’m sure.”
Brady suffered a torn ACL in Week 1 of the 2008 season — coincidentally, also against the Chiefs — forcing him to complete a long and arduous rehab process before returning to the field in 2009. Garoppolo now is staring at a similarly difficult stretch while the Niners make do with C.J. Beathard or a free agent signing under center.
Garoppolo, who signed what at the time was the richest contract in NFL history this past February, threw three interceptions in Week 1 but had shown improvement over the past two games, completing 68 percent of his passes with four touchdowns and no picks.
“I feel terrible for him,” Brady said Monday on WEEI’s “Kirk & Callahan.” “It’s a tough injury. I feel bad for Jimmy, and it’s football. Things happen like that. I’ve been through an ACL. It just sucks. You hate to see people go down, and (Jimmy) is someone I really like and have been friends with since the day he got here. It just sucks to have to go through that.”
