The San Francisco 49ers play football in just 20 short days from now, can you believe it?
The San Francisco 49ers play football in just 20 short days from now, can you believe it? Football season crept up on us, and it’s about to be in full-swing.
Starting Monday, August 17, the 49ers put on the pads for the first time in training camp. There were plenty of storylines out of 49ers camp this past week. Some good, some bad, and some ugly. Here’s what happened.
Injures, and plenty of them. It’s not uncommon, it’s not surprising, but it is unfortunate. The 49ers are banged up right now, and key players are in doubt for Week 1 on September 13.
Shanahan had this to say about Hurd’s injury:
“It’s a pretty unfortunate thing for him. We know what he went through last year with his back. The guy’s worked as hard as anyone on our team to get back. For him to get hurt before he actually got to go out there, just a freak thing on air, cutting. Really feel bad for the guy, but he will be back next year.”
One of those potential depth pieces on the offensive line went down with an injury in Sunday’s practice. Rookie guard Ross Reynolds suffered an injury in the team’s 11-on-11 drills and had to be carted off the field, while teammates came up to him to show their support.
When Reed did not participate in the first day of padded practice, Shanahan gave an explanation:
“We were being smart with Jordan, very similar to Hurd. Jordan hasn’t been here very long. We do know his history and he just hasn’t been here as long as the other guys, so we eased him in today, routes on air did all the individual work, but we didn’t want him going against anyone yet. We’ll reassess that each day and we’ll get him in there when we’re comfortable with it.”
With the season quickly approaching, it’s not a good sign that Reed hasn’t participated in a full weeks worth of padded practice.
There are no updates on Aiyuk as of now, but Shanahan will meet with the media after Tuesday’s practice. But for now, any injury to any remaining 49ers receiver is bad news.
That assessment comes from Kinlaw himself:
“I’d be lying if I thought it was good, but I’m making improvements, that’s the main thing. Just get better day by day, that’s it. I come in and I’m looking and I’m like, ‘Dang, I’m the biggest guy,’ but just because I’m big, that doesn’t really mean nothing because everybody is strong, everybody is big. It’s all about technique for me now.’
Now take away rookie mini-camp, OTA’s and the fact that Aiyuk has had to learn the playbook over Zoom, and development becomes more difficult. Fortunately for the 49ers, Aiyuk has looked great. He’s been a popular target of all three quarterbacks, and has come down with plenty of catches this past week. He’s developing quickly.
Shanahan gave his assessment of Aiyuk, and his reps with the first-team offense:
“He’s got the ability and he’s worked hard from a mental standpoint, so he’s earned some reps there. He hasn’t been going with him all the time. For the most part, our guys have been pretty interchangeable. Right now, the ones and twos are blending a ton together, but Brandon’s still got a lot to learn, a lot to go, but these practices are huge for a rookie like that. We’re expecting him to play a lot this year, just like we were expecting Deebo and [WR] Jalen [Hurd] last year. When it’s that way, you’ve got a lot of pressure on you, so you can’t miss a day or you get behind and he’s doing that both mentally and physically.”
McKinnon garnered plenty of praise as an offensive weapon when he signed. The pass-catching running back was supposed to carve out a big role in the offense the previous two years before going down with injuries before each season.
Jerick McKinnon went full-on superman, diving for a pass down the sideline (incomplete).
— Taylor Wirth (@WirthTM) August 23, 2020
Was almost the coolest play of camp
This past week he’s looked explosive, dynamic, and versatile out of the 49ers backfield. So far, Shanahan is pleased with the work he’s seen from McKinnon and cautiously optimistic:
“[Jerick McKinnon] always been as hard of a worker as there is, he came in as prepared as anyone could be. My only worry about Jet is sometimes he might overdo it because that’s how hard he works. The good thing for Jet is, we’ve been through this twice with him and when he came back last year with it, trying to get him back and he’d get out there and try to work through it, you could tell it just didn’t heal right and then he had to go through all that stuff again. It’s still the first day, the first step, but you can tell that it healed right and you can tell Jet’s put that work in and you feel all this that he’s gone through in the last two years. I feel he’s finally in a position where he has a chance to have this comeback now and everyone’s pulling for him. He’s as good of a guy there is on our team and he had a real good first day of practice.”
This season though, Pettis arrived to camp with a fresh mindset, and a few pounds added to his frame. He’s looked good so far, and the hard work he put in during the ofseason is showing.
Pettis spoke honestly about his motivation for the upcoming season after his very disappointing season in 2019:
“If that doesn’t change the way someone approaches the offseason, they don’t really want to be in the NFL. There’s not too many things worse than that, football-wise, that could get you going — being inactive for the Super Bowl. That was kind of like the final straw, you could say.”
Shanahan explained how his coaching may have fallen on deaf ears last season:
“Dante and I had a pretty good talk when he came back. He wanted to talk and it was pretty cool hearing him tell me some of that stuff that I think he shared with you guys yesterday. Even when he said stuff like, ‘I thought I was accepting coaching,’ and stuff. But then, when I sit back and look at it, sometimes you realize you take things personally and you don’t totally hear it all. There’s a two-way street on that. Our goal in everything is to get a guy better and there’s thousands of ways we can do that. You better not do the same thing with each person. I knew Dante came in a little bit behind last year and I tried everything I could to try to get that fire and I didn’t get that done last year with him.”
Richard Sherman gave high praise for the way Jason Verrett has looked in training camp so far.
— OurSF49ers (@OurSf49ers_) August 21, 2020
“His feet look incredible , his confidence is rising with every day.” | #49ers pic.twitter.com/zGml9NMhA4
Trent Taylor is once again having the best camp of the #49ers receivers.
— Taylor Wirth (@WirthTM) August 21, 2020
Highlight reel catches almost every series
So far he’s been worth the price, and then some. Watching him from the sideline, you can tell that he is a man amongst boys. Even Nick Bosa has struggled against him, and Bosa rarely struggles against any offensive lineman.
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