49ers head coachKyle Shanahan made it abundantly clear early in training camp: “Nothing really counts till we get the pads on and start doing a little more football.”
On Monday the team will do just that, which means the competition will heat up and the real decisions about the team’s future will start being made.
Performing well without pads on is important and lays a good foundation for when the hitting starts. Ultimately though a football player is only as good as they are when the reps are live and the pads are popping.
A handful of players earned praise through the first four practices of camp, while others haven’t gotten a chance to really shine yet. These six players will have the most to prove starting Monday when the 49ers put their pads on for the first time this season: