Tag: 49ers camp

49ers WR Brandon Aiyuk gets workout in during practice

BRANDON AIYUK WAS DOING SPRINTS DURING THE 49ERS PRACTICE ON FRIDAY.

Friday’s practice for the San Francisco 49ers offered an interesting wrinkle in the ongoing Brandon Aiyuk contract saga.

Not only did Aiyuk attend practice again – the third time he’d done so in as many days – but Friday’s attendance came with a workout on one of the team’s side fields at the SAP Performance Center.

Multiple reporters on site for practice reported after the session that Aiyuk was running sprints in addition to observing practice.

Of all the reporting that’s gone on around Aiyuk’s contract talks, this may be the clearest indication yet that something is close between Aiyuk and the 49ers. Surely Aiyuk has been working out throughout the offseason. Doing so at the team facility in front of reporters during practice is much different than doing so in private.

This also comes on the heels of remarks by 49ers general manager John Lynch that appeared to indicate some optimism about Aiyuk staying in San Francisco long-term.

Things will remain in question until a deal is signed and Aiyuk is in pads practicing. Perhaps he’s busy Friday and that was his only opportunity to get a workout in, and there’s not any kind of movement on a contract.

Alas, we’re left to try and make sense of puzzle pieces that may or may not fit together. From our view, a player negotiating a contract with a team running sprints at the team facility during the team’s practice is an indication that the contract is close. And we may soon see Aiyuk actually participating with the 49ers instead of just observing.

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49ers forced to cancel joint practices with Saints before preseason matchup

The 49ers had to cancel joint practice with the Saints for a not-so-great reason.

The San Francisco 49ers and New Orleans Saints were supposed to have joint practices in Irvine, Calif. in the week leading up to their preseason showdown at Levi’s Stadium.

Head coach Kyle Shanahan often values the joint practices more than preseason games, but the 49ers had to cancel the combined sessions in Southern California due to mounting injury concerns.

ESPN’s Nick Wagoner reported the 49ers feared they wouldn’t have enough players healthy to properly execute the joint practices. San Francisco will practice as normal at the SAP Performance Center at Levi’s Stadium.

The 49ers had more than 20 players out of practices leading up to their preseason opener. In their preseason game against the Titans, 33 players sat out the game for various reasons.

Skipping joint practices is probably the right move given where the 49ers are injury-wise. Having the heated head-to-head sessions with a diminished number of available players could lead to increased chance of injury with more reps being given to players.

That’s particularly true for the 49ers’ starters. Their starting units are healthy for the most part, and added reps in a joint practice could certainly endanger that.

It wouldn’t be a surprise if the 49ers took it easy in the week of practice before their second preseason game against the Saints. They need to get through camp healthy above all else, and they’re not doing well in that department through the first couple weeks of padded practices.

The 49ers and Saints are slated to kickoff from Levi’s Stadium on Sunday, Aug. 18 at 5:00pm Pacific Time.

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49ers 2nd-year WR puts together strong practice amid heated battle for roster spot

One young 49ers wide receiver is making the case to stick around on the roster.

The 49ers depth chart at wide receiver looks mostly set.

It’s unclear whether they’ll keep five or six WRs at final cuts, but there are five mostly set in stone. Brandon Aiyuk, Deebo Samuel, Jauan Jennings and Ricky Pearsall are all locks. Fourth-round pick Jacob Cowing can be penciled in for the fifth spot. That leaves a maximum of one spot left.

Wide receiver Ronnie Bell is one of the players vying for that potential sixth roster spot, and he made a strong case for it with his performance in Wednesday’s practice.

ESPN’s Nick Wagoner detailed on Twitter a couple of the highlights from Bell’s outing:

Bell has had his struggles in this camp but he made a pair of impressive, contested catches, including one from QB Brock Purdy on a deep out to the right sideline in which he climbed the ladder, high pointed the ball and held on even with CB Charvarius Ward right on top of him. Later, he caught a touchdown in red zone work from QB Brandon Allen despite CB Ambry Thomas being draped all over him.

This is good news for Bell, a 2023 seventh-round pick who posted six catches for 68 yards and three touchdowns last season. He can certainly put pressure on the 49ers coaching staff to keep a sixth WR by putting together good performances in the passing game.

He can ratchet that pressure up immensely by contributing more reliably as a punt returner. Finding a special teams role is going to be key for Bell no matter how many tough catches he makes in practice. Last season he took on some punt return duties, but he had trouble at times fielding kicks and holding on to the ball. Dependability is key for a punt returner and Bell was not that a season ago.

If he improves there while also showing out when given opportunities as a pass catcher, he’ll give San Francisco plenty of reasons to keep him as their sixth receiver.

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Son of 49ers legend hauls in long would-be TD in training camp

Undrafted rookie wide receiver Terique Owens made a big play for the 49ers on Tuesday.

The 49ers group of undrafted rookies may not have a chance to make much of an impact this year given how deep San Francisco’s roster is.

While Missouri running back Cody Schrader has raised some eyebrows, it was Terique Owens, son of 49ers Hall of Fame wide receiver Terrell Owens, who cashed in with a big-time catch late in Tuesday’s practice.

According to reporters on site, Owens snagged a long throw from quarterback Brandon Allen that would have gone for a touchdown.

It’s important to keep Owens’ success in camp in perspective. San Francisco has a loaded depth chart at wide receiver and Owens is an undrafted rookie out of Missouri Valley State. In 26 games with MVSU he had 46 catches for 765 yards and four touchdowns.

His climb to a roster spot is impossibly steep. A more realistic goal for Owens might be to try and carve out a practice squad spot. He’s listed at 6-3, 193 pounds so his size and pedigree give him a good foundation entering camp. There’ll be a requisite level of success required in practices to even grab hold of one of the team’s practice squad spots.

It’s still early in training camp and continuing to make plays through camp and into preseason games will also help Owens’ case. Starting with explosive plays in practice is a step in the right direction, though. There’ll be plenty of 49ers fans keeping an eye on Owens in hopes of the son of a legend eventually finding his way in the NFL with San Francisco.

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Veteran WR hard to ignore for 49ers after strong start to training camp

A familiar face could wind up landing a spot in the #49ers WR corps after returning this offseason.

It looked entering training camp like the 49ers receiving corps would be mostly set. Assuming Brandon Aiyuk returns it would be him, Deebo Samuel, Jauan Jennings, Ricky Pearsall, Jacob Cowing, and then one of a handful of players ranging from Danny Gray to Tay Martin.

One player, a veteran free agent signing this offseason, didn’t appear to be heavily in the mix. After a full week of padless practices and one day of practice in pads, Trent Taylor has forced his way into the conversation.

Taylor, a 2017 fifth-round pick of the 49ers, has spent the last three years in Cincinnati and Chicago working primarily as a punt returner. He had only eight catches on 15 targets in 37 games across those three years.

His specialization as a punt returner made it hard to envision him securing a roster spot in a crowded wide receiver room. Head coach Kyle Shanahan on Monday in his post-practice press conference made it sound like there’s a real chance Taylor winds up landing the final WR spot.

“I love having Trent back here,” Shanahan said. “Trent can help out anywhere. Trent’s such a good football player. The moment’s never too big for him. He knows the offense well. He can hop in at all three spots. Competes his ass off in everything he does and he’s very valuable as a returner too. So, especially having a lot of guys in and out, it’s good to have some versatility there with Trent.”

Between Aiyuk’s hold-in and injuries to WRs Tay Martin, Ricky Pearsall and Jacob Cowing, snaps have been easy to come by in the receiving corps. Taylor’s snaps at receiver haven’t come solely because of injury, though. Shanahan said the plan wasn’t to strictly bring in Taylor to return kicks.

“No, you always want a group of receivers in camp,” Shanahan said. “And you know you’re going to get a few in the draft, possibly a free agency after the draft. You have the guys that you already have on the roster and you want to add harder competition. I always love getting some veterans in here who know how to play. Who the game is not too big for, that hopefully can add competition to possibly make your team, or make guys better who have to be very good to beat out some guys like that. And you always like guys like that as possible practice squad players too, because when they have experience and something happens on a Friday or Saturday, the game is never too big for them. You can get them up and they don’t blink.”

For now it looks like the practice squad is the much more likely outcome for Taylor. He’s perfect in that role as a reliable veteran option who can plug a bunch of holes in the 49ers’ receiving corps as needed, while also offering reliability as a punt returner.

This is something worth watching closely throughout camp. The 49ers don’t have a true slot receiver and Taylor showed when he first got to San Francisco some pass-catching chops. That was eight seasons and a couple injuries ago for him, but it’ll be interesting to see how it plays out if he develops any kind of rapport with quarterback Brock Purdy.

It might’ve been easy to overlook Taylor to start camp. Now he’s making sure he’s at least in the mix to make the team.

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None of Brock Purdy’s 3 training camp INTs matter

Brock Purdy threw three interceptions in Monday’s practice, and it doesn’t really matter!

To be totally clear up top here: training camp interceptions aren’t necessarily good. They’re also not inherently bad. As with all things, context matters and because of that it’s difficult to find much meaning in any of Brock Purdy’s three interceptions during the 49ers’ first padded practices of the season.

It doesn’t appear that any of the interceptions came from Purdy not knowing the offense or simply throwing to the wrong place and not seeing a defender. David Lombardi of the Athletic covered the details of all three picks, and none of them look egregious.

Practice is a space for QBs to try things, find their timing and find out what their pass catchers can and cannot do. It’s likely not a coincidence that two of the three INTs came on passes intended for newcomer Logan Thomas and seldom-used second-year tight end Brayden Willis. It’s also a space to make mistakes like throwing blindly while under pressure, which it sounds like Purdy did on his third interception.

If this becomes a trend we can certainly begin wondering what’s leading to the run of turnovers and whether it’ll be a problem once the regular season begins. For one practice though, particularly the first padded session of the year, it’s hard to find a ton of reasons to overreact. Or, frankly, to react at all.

As long as whatever Purdy is doing gets him dialed in to be as effective as possible in the regular season, the 49ers will take it regardless of the practice results.

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49ers are not repeating last year’s mistake on offensive line

We wondered if the 49ers were making a familiar mistake on the offensive line. They’re not.

It looked initially like the 49ers might be wandering into a mistake they made last training camp. In 2023 they handed starting jobs to right guard Spencer Burford and right tackle Colton McKivitz without any real competition. Through the first couple days of camp things appeared to be trending a similar direction.

Injuries have opened the door for some reserves to slide into starters reps though, and with that the interior offensive line competition appears to be on.

ESPN’s Nick Wagoner noted some of the changes to the offensive line in Saturday’s session;

Without Burford and Feliciano, it was rookie Dominick Puni getting more run with the starting offense at right guard. 49ers view the interior OL as having competition and if Puni can stay healthy, that alone should help him get the needed reps to potentially earn a role sooner than later.

Burford is dealing with a broken hand that could keep him out a few weeks. It’s unclear why Feliciano is out, but he figures to be in the mix for the starting right guard job after finishing the season there last year.

The 49ers probably would prefer to see Puni, a rookie third-round pick, make a quick enough mark to become a starting right guard. Head coach Kyle Shanahan made it clear that the club is holding competitions at all the interior O-line spots.

“And they’re all battling for those inside spots and any time, especially when you lose guys in there, you’re not having Burford, Feliciano has missed a little bit of time, and [OL Jake] Brendel will get some time off,” Shanahan said after Saturday’s practice. “He’s not out there every single day. So guys have to be able to back up. They have to be able to do center, they have to be able to do guard. They have to know all three.”

While starting jobs may be up for grabs, reserve jobs will also be there for the taking. San Francisco has a glut of offensive linemen and their depth was sorely lacking last year. This season they have a handful of options to start, and the best ones who don’t could become key reserves. The musical chairs on the OL will be worth watching closely in camp, particularly once the pads come on.

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Kyle Shanahan explains when training camp gets real for 49ers

Real training camp practices start Monday for the 49ers.

The 49ers on Sunday have their first day off of training camp. They had a block of four practices, and then a day off Sunday before getting back to on-field work Monday. Monday the pads come on, and that’s when practice gets real.

It’s not that padless practices to open camp are meaningless, but head coach Kyle Shanahan after Saturday’s session said coaches try not to take too much from the padless portion.

“You try not to make big judgements as a coach until the pads get on, because things get a lot realer when that happens,” Shanahan said.

This is true for all positions since ability to play with and through contact can make or break a player in the NFL. It’s especially true in the trenches though where contact is an essential aspect of the offensive and defensive lines.

We’ll learn a lot about where the 49ers position battles stand and how well their rookies figure to hold up Monday when they take the field in pads for the first time.

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49ers training camp highlight shows familiar WR-QB connection

Third-and-Jauan, training camp edition.

Brandon Aiyuk’s hold-in and a handful of injuries have opened the door for 49ers wide receiver Jauan Jennings to take on a larger role in training camp.

A highlight the team posted from Saturday’s practice shows a familiar sight with quarterback Brock Purdy firing a throw in to Jennings over the middle. It must have been a third down play because Jennings made the catch in traffic and appeared to have some room to run after turning upfield.

Jennings signed an extension with the 49ers in the offseason that will keep him with the club through the 2025 campaign. He’s become an impactful player for San Francisco in pretty limited volume. It’s unlikely we’ll see Jennings ever take on a huge role in a crowded 49ers offense, but having him as a No. 3 or 4 WR is a major advantage. It’s clear Purdy trusts him on key downs and it seems like the club would be fine if Jennings ever did have to take on a bigger role.

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49ers training camp practice video highlights Ji’Ayir Brown INT

WATCH: Ji’Ayir Brown snags a Brock Purdy overthrow for an interception.

Brock Purdy’s early training camp deep throws haven’t been great according to reports from the team’s facility. The good news is it’s only Day 2 and finding his touch and timing on those throws will come as the preseason progresses.

Ji’Ayir Brown was a beneficiary of one of those tosses in Friday’s practice. Purdy was looking for Deebo Samuel down the sideline, but he overshot his receiver. Brown was in coverage and in perfect position to leap up and snag the throw while getting his feet in bounds.

The bigger deal here for San Francisco is that Brown is in midseason form in terms of generating takeaways. That was one of his calling cards in college and doing it in the NFL will make him a valuable piece of the 49ers’ defense in his first full season as a starter.

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