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San Francisco 49ers rookie quarterback Trey Lance isn’t the only battle that Jimmy Garoppolo is dealing with at training camp.
He’s also up against center Alex Mack‘s butt sweat — yes, you read that correctly.
Over the course of training camp, we learned that Mack sweats a lot. In fact, NBC Sports Bay Area’s own Jennifer Lee Chan caught a glimpse of a trainer pulling a wet towel from the veteran’s pants and replacing it with a fresh one.
So, how does Garoppolo feel about this? The media didn’t shy away from asking.
“I don’t know, I get a lot of sweaty centers,” Garoppolo told reporters. “It’s unfortunate at times but we make it work. Alex is no sweatier than — that’s a hard one to answer.”
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Garoppolo Shares Hilarious Analogy for Mack’s Excessive Sweat
Kyle Shanahan, who coached Mack in 2016 as offensive coordinator of the Atlanta Falcons, was also asked about the 35-year-old center’s excessive sweat.
“Honestly, it happens with almost all centers,” Shanahan told reporters. “Maybe Mack is a little worse than others, but no, I mean, Matt Ryan used to make him change his pants like every period. It doesn’t stay dry too long. It’s part of football.”
This all came about when offensive coordinator Mike McDaniels explained that the reason behind the Mack-to-Garoppolo snap problems were in fact a sweat issue.
To give reporters a better perspective, Garoppolo use a funny analogy to describe the unfortunate situation
“It definitely makes it different if you’re not ready for it, I’d say,” Garoppolo said. “I think I’ve kind of learned through my career how to deal with it, but the best way to describe it is you’re playing in a dry game and all of the sudden it’s a rain game when you get the snap so if you’re not prepared for that, I guess it could throw you off at times.
“I can’t believe we’re talking about that.”
Mack Made His Return Back to the Bay Area
Mack has said he had a goal to play for at least 10 years, but he’s entering his 12th season after signing a three-year deal worth $14.85 million this offseason.
He is a very dependable center. He missed just two games this past season — game 15 due to a concussion and the final game because he was on the reserve/COVID-19 list — but otherwise has started all 16 games in every season since 2016. Shanahan and Mack go back to when Mack was drafted by the Browns and played under Shanahan and then in Atlanta when Shanahan and Mack helped lead the Falcons to the Super Bowl.
The six-time Pro Bowl center played his college career at Cal and returning to the Bay Area to end his career where he started it has got to be exciting for him.
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