Tag: Dee Winters

49ers injury updates immediately following huge win over Cowboys

Injury updates for the 49ers:

The San Francisco 49ers paid a bit of a price for their Week 8 win over the Dallas Cowboys.

Head coach Kyle Shanahan had a quartet of injury updates after the game with four players who were banged up and didn’t return to action.

Running back Jordan Mason in the first half hurt the same shoulder he injured in Week 8. He left to the locker room early and returned for the second half with his helmet, but he never entered the game in the second half. Shanahan said Mason might have been able to return.

“Maybe he could’ve,” Shanahan said. “But Isaac (Guerendo) was rolling and he did a good job.”

Guerendo had 85 yards on 14 carries in Mason’s stead.

Wide receiver Deebo Samuel left the game in the fourth quarter with a rib injury. It’s unclear when he was injured, but he was unable to re-enter the game in some key situations late in the contest.

On the defensive side, linebacker Dee Winters left with a concussion he sustained while covering a kickoff. Rookie cornerback Renardo Green also hurt his ankle.

Shanahan didn’t have long-term prognoses for any of the players hurt in Week 8, but with the 49ers’ Bye week in Week 9, they’ll have some extra time to get right in time for a post-Bye playoff push.

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49ers need to make change in starting LB corps

It’s time for a change on the 49ers’ defense.

It appears the San Francisco 49ers may be headed toward a shakeup to try and cure some of what ails their struggling defense.

The 49ers entering Monday night were allowing a whopping 6.1 yards per play. That’s the third-worst mark in the league and 1.1 yards per play more than they allowed last season. They’ve also struggled on third downs and haven’t been able to come up with key stops at the end of both of their losses.

While there are a host of issues on that side of the ball, one glaring one is linebacker De’Vondre Campbell, who could be on his way to a lesser role. Second-year LB Dee Winters took over in the second quarter for a short stretch Sunday against the Los Angeles Rams before re-aggravating his ankle injury on LA’s fake punt.

Head coach Kyle Shanahan said Winters’ defensive snaps were something the club planned on leading up to the game.

“Just planned on it before the game,” Shanahan said. “We wanted to do that early going into this year also. But Dee just got hurt there, I think in that last preseason game, so that set that back a little bit. He’s gotten healthy and we planned on doing that early, just like the week before we planned on doing it with (S George Odum) G.O. and Malik (Mustapha). We started that and he got hurt on, he reaggravated his ankle on the fake punt.”

While Shanahan said the move wasn’t because of dissatisfaction with Campbell, he did say Winters had done enough to push for the starting Will LB spot.

“We want to keep working to get the best guys out there and Dee has had a good camp and he showed that he deserves the chance to push him,” Shanahan said. “He did good on the plays that he did when he was in there and hopefully he’ll get healthy so we can keep doing the same stuff.”

It’s not a surprise the 49ers are aiming to try something different at the spot previously occupied by Dre Greenlaw. Greenlaw’s athleticism in the second level allowed San Francisco to control an area of the field so many offenses thrive in, particularly in the passing game.

Campbell has struggled badly in coverage, allowing 14 catches for 149 yards and one touchdown on 16 targets according to Pro Football Focus.

Getting that second LB spot ironed out isn’t the only thing that can help the 49ers turn their defense around after a slow start, but it would certainly help what’s been a clear weakness so far in 2024.

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All but 1 player a full participant in 49ers’ first Week 3 practice

The 49ers had all but 1 player in practice Wednesday.

The San Francisco 49ers had a good start to their week of practice leading up to a Week 3 showdown with the Los Angeles Rams.

After having busy practice participation reports for the first couple weeks, the 49ers only had three players listed after Wednesday’s session. Two of those players were full participants.

Here’s what the participation report looked like:

Did not participate

WR Deebo Samuel (calf)

This isn’t a surprise since head coach Kyle Shanahan indicated Samuel would miss multiple weeks with a calf injury. He isn’t likely to participate at all for at least the next two weeks. The club will officially rule him out for Sunday’s game on Friday when the injury report is released.

Full participation

SS Talanoa Hufanga (knee)
LB Dee Winters (ankle)

This is a great sign for Hufanga. Shanahan said before practice that he’d be a full participant in Wednesday’s session. The fourth-year safety appears to have gotten through the practice without any issues. He’s on track to make his season debut Sunday. Winters has yet to play this season as well. He was questionable in Week 2, and now is in line to suit up against the Rams.

For now, no news is good news for the 49ers. They’ve dealt with a slew of injury problems to start the year, but if they can stabilize things moving forward they should be in a good spot to be healthy come playoff time.

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49ers defense becoming second nature to 2 key pieces of team’s future

The second-year leap could be happening for a pair of San Francisco 49ers linebackers.

The San Francisco 49ers have been excellent at churning out quality linebacker play since head coach Kyle Shanahan arrived in 2017.

Fred Warner has developed into the NFL’s best off-ball LB, while players like Dre Greenlaw and Azeez Al-Shaair have developed to become to become high-quality starters. In Greenlaw’s case – a star.

As the page starts to turn on this iteration of the 49ers, finding new linebackers is going to be key to maintaining their defensive dominance. Warner is still outstanding and a First-Team All-Pro. Aside from that there’s no sure thing in the pipeline with Greenlaw and LB De’Vondre Campbell both set to hit free agency in 2025.

Two players who do factor into the future of the 49ers’ defense both seem to be coming along in their second seasons. 2023 sixth-round pick Dee Winters and 2023 seventh-round pick Jalen Graham both flashed in the preseason as rookies, but neither made a substantial on-field impact in the regular season.

Both players appear poised to make a leap in Year 2 according to defensive coordinator Nick Sorensen. He told reporters after Wednesday’s practice that San Francisco’s defense is becoming easier for Graham and Winters.

“Absolutely. Dee Winters plays fast. So does Jalen,” Sorensen said in a press conference. “The way to play fast is to know what you’re doing and to feel comfortable in that. And then you’re anticipating it. You have to learn a whole new system. It’s totally different in college. There’s a lot of differences. And then the details of what we do. So it’s understanding the differences in the offenses and then understanding the details of the defense. And once you start to grasp that, it starts to become second nature. Your brain is not slowing you down, then you can see that speed and you can fully cut it loose and that’s where they’re at. They’re taking that jump, both of them. It’s cool.”

Both players could be major factors in the 49ers’ defense in the future. Every step forward they take in this year’s training camp puts them on track to be a factor as early as this season.

There’s a starting SAM LB job open for San Francisco that either one of Winters or Graham could win. The SAM LB is only on the field in base packages, compared to the MIKE and WILL LBs who are on the field for virtually every down. De’Vondre Campbell is slated to start at the WLB spot.

Campbell was an All-Pro in 2021 for the Packers, but has seen his play decline some since then. He’s still a quality player who may regain his All-Pro footing playing alongside Warner. It’s not off the table though that the 31-year-old is on the backside of his prime and simply regressing as a player.

Both Graham and Winters could find their way into the starting lineup in 2024 if the latter of those outcomes comes true for Campbell.

That will all play itself out. The good news for the 49ers is that it looks like Winters and Graham are trending toward being NFL-caliber LBs. If that is the case, it would put San Francisco’s defense in a great position to continue dominating in the second level even as it goes through some changes.

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Know Your Foe: Five TCU Horned Frogs to know for regular season finale

Oklahoma takes on TCU in their final Big 12 home game to end their regular season. Here are five TCU players to know as the Sooners prepare.

Friday will be an emotional day of celebration. The Oklahoma Sooners (9-2, 6-2 Big 12) will host their Senior Day. This will be the last time the Sooners host a Big 12 game on Owen Field.

The crimson and cream have made it through another Big 12 slate. The chances of earning a trip to Arlington for the Big 12 Championship are slim but not quite zero. The Sooners will need help from other Big 12 members to make that happen.

All Oklahoma can do is worry about finishing their final Big 12 slate with a win at home.

Their opponents were the first Big 12 team not named Oklahoma to make it to the College Football Playoff. Sonny Dykes orchestrated a masterful coaching job to get TCU (5-6, 3-5) to the national championship last year. Things didn’t go so hot in their game against Georgia, but his work speaks for itself.

The Horned Frogs lost a significant amount of production from that team, and this season has hardly been as fruitful. This team can still hang with many teams and is hungry for bowl eligibility. They are one win shy of playing in a bowl game and would love nothing more than to spoil Oklahoma’s festivities and get that sixth victory.

There is no Max Duggan, Quentin Johnston, Kendre Miller, Dee Winters, Steve Avila, or Derius Davis for this year’s TCU Horned Frogs. That group of players was the backbone of last year’s team and a big reason Oklahoma lost 55-24 in Fort Worth last year.

With so many faces gone and off to the NFL, who are the players to know for Sonny Dykes’ team? We break down five TCU Horned Frogs to know ahead for Oklahoma’s regular-season finale.

Worst of the Week for Week 10: Patriots and Giants bottom out, more bad officiating, Frank Reich

Frank Reich, the Patriots and Giants find the bottom, more horrid officiating, and one weird fumble return. It’s time for the NFL’s Worst of the Week!

Football is a wonderful, thrilling, inspiring game that can lift us to new heights in our lives.

But football is also a weird, inexplicable, at times downright stupid game that may force you to perform Keith Moon-level furniture destruction in your own living room.

So, as much as we at Touchdown Wire endeavor to write about what makes the game great, there are also times when it’s important to point out the dumb plays, boneheaded decisions, and officiating errors that make football all too human.

Folks, it’s time for the Worst of the Week for Week 10 of the 2023 NFL season.

49ers 2023 rookie report card is mostly useless at halfway point

The #49ers rookie report card is … bare.

The 49ers didn’t pick until late in the third round of the 2023 draft. It didn’t seem like a big deal considering they still walked away with a nine-player class that had a chance to fill a couple of key needs.

There was never a realistic possibility the 49ers’ rookie class had a wide swath of contributors. However, the early returns from that group can’t even be labeled as “not promising” because the reality is a vast majority of the players haven’t had any chance to make a real contribution.

We went through the rookie class and dished out “grades” for their first half performances. It won’t take long to notice a pattern:

WATCH: 49ers LB Dee Winters scores 8 TDs in high school game

49ers LB Dee Winters once scored EIGHT (8) touchdowns in a high school game:

The 49ers selected linebacker Dee Winters out of TCU with their lone sixth-round pick in this year’s draft. While defense was Winters’ ticket to the NFL, he didn’t always dominate just that side of the ball. In high school before landing with the Horned Frogs, Winters in a Texas state quarterfinal game racked up EIGHT (!!!) touchdowns.

Winters, known then by his full name, De’Monderick, was a running back for Burton High School in his junior season. In a back-and-forth affair vs. Falls City, a little bit of luck was all Winters and Burton needed to get rolling. After a turnover on a kickoff in the third quarter, Winters went 48 yards for a TD. He later put the game away with three fourth-quarter TDs.

Here are some highlights of the future 49ers LB in that game, via Mr. Bowtie’s Texas High School Sports Machine:

It’s clear Winters is a terrific athlete, and he’ll need to rely on that athleticism to carve out a role with the 49ers where they do have a starting LB job up for grabs.

Winters never played any offense in college, but he did see action on defense in all four of his seasons with TCU. He was a three-year starter and started 36 of the 48 games he played, racking up 246 tackles, 33.5 tackles for loss and 12.5 sacks.

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State of the Roster: Starting job wide open for 49ers at LB

State of the 49ers Roster: There’s a starting LB job up for grabs.

With 49ers OTAs in full swing, we’re taking a position-by-position look at the team’s roster to figure out the strengths, weaknesses, potential dark horses to make the team and other nuggets about the players who will be competing for jobs on the 53-man roster.

The 49ers won’t have a ton of turnover on their defense this year, but linebacker could be a possible exception. San Francisco saw Azeez Al-Shaair leave to join the Titans in free agency, leaving a vacancy at the starting Sam linebacker spot.

While the 49ers have to iron out who starts in Al-Shaair’s stead, they’ll also be aiming to iron out the rest of their depth chart behind that starter. Not only will they have a new starter, but they may have a couple of new faces among the reserves as well.

How the linebacking corps shakes out is a huge question mark since it appears every player on the 90-man roster has a real shot to make the club.

Let’s look at the LB group on the offseason roster:

LB Dee Winters could offer short and long-term fixes for 49ers

Dee Winters checks a lotta boxes for the 49ers to offer both short and long-term solutions at LB.

The 49ers used their lone sixth-round pick on TCU linebacker Dee Winters. He could offer immediate and long-term solutions for a couple of problems San Francisco could soon face at linebacker.

Winters should compete right away for the starting Sam linebacker job, which was vacated when Azeez Al-Shaair who left for Tennessee in free agency. He’ll have to battle with veterans Oren Burks and Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles, but general manager John Lynch invoked Dre Greenlaw’s name when discussing what they saw in Winters.

Greenlaw began his career as a fifth-round pick who began at SLB. He eventually moved over to Will LB to stay on the field for all three downs.

Winters could certainly compete for the SLB job as a rookie, but it’s not out of the question that he could move to WLB eventually. Greenlaw has two years left on his contract, at which point he may get priced out of what the 49ers can afford.

The WLB spot alongside Fred Warner has been a huge key for the 49ers’ defense and the defense has improved as Greenlaw has improved. Finding his potential replacement should be a priority for San Francisco, and Winters has the athleticism and coverage skills to develop into that player down the line.

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