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Jimmy Garoppolo showed what he can do in coach Kyle Shanahan’s offense even before he fully understood it in an impressive five-game cameo at the end of last season.

With an entire offseason to learn the foundation of the San Francisco 49ers‘ scheme and build chemistry with his receivers and offensive line Mike White Jersey , he should only be better in his first full season as an NFL starter in 2018.

Whether that translates into even more prolific numbers is a different question.

”I don’t know how much of a jump you’re going to see,” Shanahan said Wednesday before the team’s final minicamp practice of the offseason. ”When you talk about expectations, I don’t know how you’re going to live up to that. He did very good last year. If we had 400 yards a game, does that mean we need to have 600 the first five games to improve? I don’t know what the numbers will be, but we will be a better offense.”

The numbers were quite good after Garoppolo took over as the Niners won their final five games of the season after a 1-10 start under Shanahan. San Francisco scored on an NFL-best 56.6 percent of their drives after Garoppolo took over as starter and ranked in the top five in the league in scoring offense (28.8 points per game), yards per play (6.1) and yards per game (409.6).

That all came with Garoppolo being force fed a game plan each week in an offense he barely knew. This offseason he has been able to start from scratch and learn the whys behind the scheme, which should make him even better once the season starts.

”I think I’ve come a long way, especially from last season when I was just cramming everything in,” Garoppolo said. ”But there’s still a long way to go developing that chemistry between me and the skill positions and the o-line. It’s a work in progress.”

That was evident Tuesday when issues with a new cadence led to several false starts or players not getting off on time early in practice. That led Garoppolo to keep a lot of the offense on the field after practice for some extra work to make sure those issues don’t come up again.

Shanahan said he was pleased to see his players take the initiative to fix those issues without any prodding from the coaches.

”It wasn’t any fun,” Garoppolo said. ”When that goes wrong, it just screws up the rest of the play. First and foremost, we have to get that corrected.”

While the cadence issue was a one-time issue, a major focus this offseason for Garoppolo and the offense has been on becoming more efficient in the red zone.

San Francisco moved the ball with ease the last five weeks of the season but the offense too often had to settle for field goals. The Niners converted less than half of their chances inside the opponent’s 20-yard line into touchdowns.

The team has excelled in that area in practice this offseason and Garoppolo hopes that carries over to the games.

”Those are point plays,” Garoppolo said. ”Those are the ones that really matter. When you get those opportunities Adam Vinatieri Jersey , it’s hard to complete a touchdown, especially in the red zone like that. The windows are tighter, there’s not as much room.”

While Garoppolo is the headliner, there has been significant change in the one-plus year since Shanahan and general manager John Lynch took over a struggling franchise.

Shanahan took over a two-win team that had gone through three coaches in the previous three years and now has it in position to be a legitimate contender in the power-packed NFC.

”We’ve put a lot of work in a year, we’ve gone through a lot of things, we’ve changed the roster over a ton,” Shanahan said. ”We’ve been better as a coaching staff. We go through this every single day. What I’m happy about as I look over our players and our coaches is we’re better. We’re deeper. We’re faster. We move together, our 11 guys, better together. That should happen. We’ve done it longer. We’ve had more time to build the personnel.”

NOTES: WR Marquise Goodwin won the Pro Football Writers of America George Halas Award, given to the person who overcomes the most adversity to succeed. Goodwin caught an 83-yard touchdown pass in a Week 10 win against the Giants just hours after he and his wife, Morgan, lost their infant son due to complications which led to a premature delivery. … Third-round LB Fred Warner signed his rookie contract. … Former 49ers LB Larry Grant has been named the team’s 2018 Nunn-Wooten Scouting Fellow.

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鈥?Stand or stay out of sight.Looking to quell a national debate that was sparked by Colin Kaepernick, stoked by President Trump and some say chipped away at the very popularity of America’s game, NFL owners approved a new policy Wednesday that allows players to protest during the national anthem by staying in the locker room but forbids them from sitting or taking a knee if they’re on the field.Commissioner Roger Goodell called it a compromise aimed at putting the focus back on football after a tumultuous year in which television ratings dipped nearly 10 percent. He said it was unanimously approved by NFL owners Peyton Manning Jersey , but that was immediately called into question when the head of the San Francisco 49ers 鈥?Kaepernick’s former team, no less 鈥?said he abstained from the vote. The owner of the New York Jets also took a more conciliatory approach, promising not to punish any player who continues to protest against social injustice in full view of fans. The players’ union said it wasn’t consulted in the talks and would file a grievance against any change in the collective bargaining agreement. The owners seemed to address that concern by saying only teams would be fined for violations, not individual players. But the league also cleared the way for teams to set their own workplace policies, raising the specter of an even more convoluted approach to an issue that has dominated conversation away from the field.The head of the NFL Players Association, DeMaurice Smith , angrily denounced the new policy and called it a blow against America’s most basic of rights 鈥?freedom of speech. Since the new policy is a change in the terms and conditions of employment that was not collectively bargained, any attempts to fine individual players would surely be opposed by the union.“Management has chosen to quash the same freedom of speech that protects someone who wants to salute the flag in an effort to prevent someone who does not wish to do so,” Smith wrote on . “I know that not all of the NFL CEO’s are for this and I know that true American patriots are not cheering today.”So, what happens to a player who decides to keep kneeling during “The Star-Spangled Banner?” Considering Kaepernick is heading into his second year without a job and a former teammate and fellow protester, Eric Reid, is also out of work, it seemed to clear to at least one player what message the NFL was trying to send.“If the team says ‘this is what we’re doing,’ and ownership (does too) Lamar Miller Jersey , you either deal with it or you’re probably going to get cut,” Pittsburgh Steelers guard Ramon Foster said. “They’ll find a way to get you up out of there.”Arizona Cardinals safety Antoine Bethea, who has been in the league for a dozen years, scoffed at Goodell’s notion that this was a step toward appeasing all sides.“If you want to use your right of freedom of speech and take a knee, you’re going to get fined,” Bethea said. “So it’s really not a compromise. But they did give us the option as far as guys wanting to stay in the locker room. It’s going to be something guys are going to have to deal with. Either it’s going to be a team thing and everybody stays in the locker room or everybody goes out and stands.”49ers CEO Jed York said every owner who voted was in agreement with the new policy, but he abstained because he wasn’t comfortable with a process that didn’t directly involve the players. He wouldn’t say if any other owners declined to vote.“I want to work with my team to make sure everything we do is about promoting the right types of social justice reform and getting to a better America,” York said. Jet owner Christopher Johnson said his team will pay any fines doled out by the league, without passing on punishment to the players.“I will support our players wherever we land as a team,” Johnson said. “Our focus is not on imposing any club rules, fines or restrictions.”Clearly, Goodell and most owners just want to put the divisive issue behind them.The NFL started requiring players to be on the field for the anthem in 2009 鈥?the year it signed a marketing deal with the military.“We want people to be respectful of the national anthem. We want people to stand,” said Goodell, who dismissed concerns about the lack of union involvement by contending the league met with countless players over the past year.“We’ve been very sensitive on making sure that we give players choices Donte Jackson Jersey ,” the commissioner added, “but we do believe that moment is an important moment and one that we are going to focus on.”The owners spent more than three hours over two days addressing the contentious issue 鈥?which made it all the way to the White House.Kaepernick, the former 49ers quarterback, began kneeling during the national anthem in 2016, a quiet but powerful protest against police brutality and racial inequities in the justice system that has drawn both praise and scorn.Other players took up the cause, and the gesture carried on during the 2017 season even after Kaepernick left the 49ers and failed to be picked up by another team. Trump turned the debate into a campaign issue , saying the NFL should fire any player who takes a knee during “The Star-Spangled Banner.” The NFL hasn’t gone that far, but Kaepernick and Reid believe they are being singled out as leaders in the movement. Both have filed collusion grievances against the NFL .There was no immediate comment from Trump on the new policy, but Vice President Mike Pence called it “a win for the fans, a win for (Trump), and a win for America.” Last season, Pence walked out of game at Indianapolis after some players kneeled during the anthem.“Americans can on Womens Jason McCourty Jersey ,