The 49ers signed quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo to a five-year, $137.5 million contract in February 2018. Only seven months later, he was out for the season with a torn ACL.
While the injury is the last thing Garoppolo or the 49ers wanted to see, the quarterback believes it gave him an even greater appreciation for the game.
"Live to play the next play," Garoppolo told the NFL Network over the weekend. "That was the first thing I learned from it."
Stay in the game with the latest updates on your beloved Bay Area and California sports teams! Sign up here for our All Access Daily newsletter.
Garoppolo only has been in coach Kyle Shanahan's complex 49ers offense for nine games. The injury gave him the opportunity to take a step back and get into his coach's head a bit more.
"I think I tried to take a coach's mindset into this whole last season that I had sitting on the sidelines -- trying to do situational football ... I think it's gonna help me moving forward," Garoppolo said.
[RELATED: York gave Shanahan sarcastic praise for Jimmy G trick play]
Garoppolo has been good to go during 49ers training camp, and is starting to look like the QB who led the 49ers to five straight wins to end the 2017 season. General manager John Lynch believes a revamped roster should help his signal-caller "flourish" this season, too.
San Francisco 49ers
Find the latest San Francisco 49ers news, highlights, analysis and more with NBC Sports Bay Area and California.
So far, so good.