Jordan Mason caps epic 99-yard drive with touchdown

The 49ers running back stayed hot with a touchdown run against the Vikings in the fourth quarter.

With the San Francisco 49ers facing the chance of falling down 27-7, defensive captain Fred Warner came up with a big hit at the goal line to force a fumble against Minnesota Vikings running back Aaron Jones.

With another turnover forced by the hands of Warner, Kyle Shanahan’s offense went to work down 20-7 in the fourth quarter. Purdy orchestrated the 49ers’ best offensive drive of the game, pushing the ball down the field to set up a much-needed touchdown.

Jordan Mason stayed hot, punching in a 10-yard touchdown run to capitalize a 99-yard drive against the Vikings. Behind Mason’s score, the 49ers cut the Vikings lead to 20-14.

Via @49ers on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/49ers/status/1835401260142317843

This post originally appeared on Niners Wire! Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!

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49ers defensive leader expected breakout game from unheralded RB

The Georgia Tech product rushed for a career-high 147 yards on Monday night against the Jets.

Monday Night Football between the New York Jets and San Francisco 49ers marked the arrival of Jordan Mason. With Christian McCaffrey ruled out before kickoff due to an ankle/Achilles, Mason didn’t just fill in but thrived in the 49ers backfield.

Mason fueled the 49ers offense, surging to a career-high 147 yards with a touchdown on 28 carries. The Georgia Tech product hammered the Jets defense with a flurry of powerful runs through the belly of New York’s front seven.

Following the game, Fred Warner was asked about Mason. The 49ers defensive captain wasn’t surprised by the undrafted running back’s performance on Monday against the Jets.

I know it sounds silly, but I truly do expect that of him. I love the fact that he trained here this offseason — chose to train here with me and some of the other linebackers, Flan and Curtis. We compete here. Even in the offseason, I saw him with a different mindset that he was going to be ready for his moment when it did come. All training camp he got a lot of reps obviously with Christian out. Even though I’m not tackling him to the ground, I could still feel the physicality and seeing it throughout the preseason. He was ready for his moment. I’m so happy for him.

Via @NBCS49ers on Twitter:

Regardless of when McCaffrey will be available next, Mason has deservingly carved out some sort of role in Shanahan’s offense. If McCaffrey can’t return by Sunday, Mason will likely see a heavy workload again in Week 2 against the Minnesota Vikings.

This post originally appeared on Niners Wire! Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!

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Watch: Fred Warner forces first turnover of season with punch vs. Jets’ Breece Hall

It didn’t take long for Fred Warner to make an impact in the 49ers season opener against the Jets.

After a 3-and-out on offense to start the regular season, the San Francisco 49ers leaned on their defense to provide a spark on Monday Night Football against the New York Jets. The 49ers captain delivered.

It didn’t take long for Fred Warner to make an impact against the Jets. After Aaron Rodgers flipped a short pass to running back Breece Hall, Warner came flying in to punch the ball out of the former Iowa State rusher’s hands. Following Warner’s punch, new 49er defensive tackle Maliek Collins pounced on the forced fumble to secure the turnover.

Via @brgridiron on Twitter:

With the football, the 49ers offense settled for a field goal with Jake Moody tacking on the 49ers’ first points of the 2024 campaign.

This post originally appeared on Niners Wire! Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!

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Best version of 49ers season ends with unlikely Super Bowl win

Here’s what the most optimistic version of the 49ers’ season looks like:

It’s not hard to paint an optimistic picture about the San Francisco 49ers’ 2024 season.

They enter the year with the best roster in football. They’ll be almost fully intact by Week 1, and they return most of the group that won the No. 1 seed in the NFC en route to a Super Bowl trip last season. If things go according to plan, this is the year San Francisco ends its 30-year Super Bowl drought and become only the fourth team ever to lose a Super Bowl, then win it the following year. They’d join the 1971 Dallas Cowboys, 1972 Miami Dolphins and 2018 New England Patriots to do so.

So, what does the most optimistic view look like?

Quarterback Brock Purdy will be entering his second full year as a starter. He’s also coming off a full offseason where he didn’t have to rehab his surgically-repaired throwing elbow. Considering he finished fourth in MVP voting last season, the arrow is pointing up for the signal caller in 2024.

If Purdy is better, the 49ers offense is going to reach an unstoppable level. San Francisco already boasts playmakers like Deebo Samuel, Brandon Aiyuk, George Kittle and Christian McCaffrey. Sprinkling in a quarterback who makes more individually great plays outside the context of his playmakers would make head coach Kyle Shanahan’s group a juggernaut.

A better version of the 49ers’ offense would allow the team’s defense to take a step backward and still stay in Super Bowl contention. Alas, we’re in the most optimistic world here and San Francisco once again boasts the NFL’s top defense.

Defensive end depth is a concern, to be sure, but Nick Bosa would be a Defensive Player of the Year candidate and Javon Hargrave would bounce back with a Pro Bowl campaign. Leonard Floyd and Yetur Gross-Matos would also provide enough rotational depth on the edges to make the 49ers’ pass rush a force like the one we saw in 2019.

This year is different though because their secondary is also loaded. Charvarius Ward and Deommodore Lenoir are both Pro Bowl candidates at cornerback, as are safeties Ji’Ayir Brown and Talanoa Hufanga. That group churns out a ton of takeaways in this universe where it all goes right.

While the 49ers may miss Dre Greenlaw alongside Fred Warner, De’Vondre Campbell looks more like his 2021 self and when Greenlaw does return he works in as the Sam LB who only plays a handful of snaps each game. Campbell is more susceptible in coverage than Greenlaw, but he’s overall a fine replacement and the 49ers don’t lose much in the linebacking corps.

All of those pieces falling into place give the 49ers a No. 1 offense and a No. 1 defense going into the playoffs. Once they’re there, their experience takes over and they steamroll their way to a Super Bowl where they finally knock off Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs to earn their sixth Lombardi Trophy.

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49ers superstar returns to full practice after dealing with foot injury

One key player was back to full practice for the 49ers on Wednesday.

The vibes haven’t been great lately for the San Francisco 49ers.

It seemed for a stretch like only bad news was coming out of Santa Clara with the prolonged Brandon Aiyuk hold-in, Trent Williams’s holdout, and an injury list that seemed to grow every day.

One of the early injuries in camp was foot irritation for linebacker Fred Warner. In a bit of good injury news for the 49ers, Warner was back as a full participant in Wednesday’s practice according to ESPN’s Nick Wagoner.

It didn’t appear as though Warner’s injury would be one that held him out for a prolonged period. He was even back at practice before Wednesday but was not participating fully.

Still, the 49ers needed a win on the injury front and Warner returning as a full participant before the team’s second preseason game is good news.

It’s unclear whether Warner will play Sunday when the 49ers host the New Orleans Saints. Head coach Kyle Shanahan indicated some starters might play since the club had to cancel their joint practices with New Orleans. Those joint sessions are typically classified as game reps for the 49ers so they don’t play their starters in the game.

Given that Warner is just now returning to full practice the team may hold their All-Pro linebacker out of Sunday’s action. Either way, he appears to be on track for Week 1 which is the best news the 49ers could’ve gotten.

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49ers defensive MVP a fringe top-10 player in NFL Top 100 list

Is Fred Warner the 49ers’ defensive MVP?

Trying to pick an MVP of the 49ers on either side of the ball is difficult.

There are arguments to be made for several players on offense, but typically running back Christian McCaffrey gets the nod. San Francisco’s defensive MVP is less clear, but it’s getting harder to argue anyone besides linebacker Fred Warner deserves the crown.

Warner landed at No. 11 overall in NFL Network’s Top 100 players of 2024 – a four spot jump from last season.

Every year there’s some form of controversy around the NFL Top 100, which is a survey of active NFL players conducted by NFL Network. It’s not a definitive ranking by any means. It is, however, a good barometer for how certain players are viewed by their contemporaries.

That Warner was by far the highest-ranked 49ers defender speaks volumes about what he brings to the table for San Francisco. There’s not another 49ers defensive player on the list until No. 27 where defensive end Nick Bosa resides. While Bosa is the one with a Defensive Player of the Year award under his belt, it makes sense that Warner has separated himself amongst his peers.

Bosa’s holdout that lasted until Week 1 of the regular season last year had an impact on his play. While he was still dominant it was a discernible step back from his stellar 2022 campaign.

Meanwhile, Warner has been sensational on a regular basis over the last four years. In that stretch he’s been a First-Team All-Pro three times and he finished sixth in Defensive Player of the Year voting in 2023. His range allows him to bottle up run plays to either sideline, and his coverage skills take away a ton of easy throws modern offenses are built around. He’s also the vocal leader of San Francisco’s extremely talented defense.

Perhaps in 2024 Bosa puts together another DPOY campaign that bolsters his case to be the 49ers’ defensive MVP. Going into 2024, however, there aren’t many players on either side of the ball for San Francisco better than Warner.

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Fred Warner finds silver lining in Brandon Aiyuk contract situation

Brandon Aiyuk’s contract talks haven’t been a highlight of the 49ers’ offseason, but Fred Warner found a silver lining.

Brandon Aiyuk’s contract extension was one of the 49ers’ biggest offseason priorities. It still isn’t done just one day shy of the club’s veterans reporting to the team facility for training camp. By most accounts this is some level of mess for San Francisco and their All-Pro wide receiver. Veteran linebacker Fred Warner is choosing to take a different view.

In an interview with Willard and Dibs on 95.7 the Game in San Francisco, Warner said the Aiyuk contract talks are just the reality good teams face.

“When you’re part of such a talented roster this is something that goes on every season,” Warner said via 95.7 the Game. “It’s a good issue to have because it means your players are performing at such a high level.”

This is true. A league with a hard salary cap like the NFL makes team-building especially difficult when a team drafts and develops, or acquires, so many great players.

Warner, Nick Bosa, George Kittle, Trent Williams, Christian McCaffrey, Kyle Juszczyk, Javon Hargrave and Deebo Samuel are all getting paid at or near the top of the market at their positions.

Now it’s Aiyuk’s turn to get paid a contract that puts him at or near the top of the wide receiver market. The problem is the 49ers also have a massive extension looming for quarterback Brock Purdy.

The machinations of all this matter less than Warner’s overall point that this Aiyuk situation stems from the 49ers having so many good players. Massaging the cap and maneuvering to find room for all that talent is extremely difficult, but it’s a much better problem to have to solve than simply finding any kind of talent.

Ideally for the 49ers they’ll continue to have this problem in the future since acquiring more good players to replace some of the ones they’ll inevitably lose will be required to keep their Super Bowl window open.

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4 training camp questions for 49ers new-look LB corps

The #49ers LB corps could look a little different this year, leading to some big questions in training camp.

The 49ers linebacking corps has been a pretty substantial key to their defensive dominance over the last few seasons. Fred Warner is the consensus best LB in the NFL and Dre Greenlaw’s ascension into the upper tier at the position has allowed San Francisco to control the middle of the field as well as any team in the league.

2024 comes with a new set of challenges though as the club looks to integrate some new depth and replace Greenlaw who is recovering from a torn Achilles he suffered in the Super Bowl. We’ll learn plenty about how things shake out with that group in training camp, and these are the questions we’ll be looking to have answered:

1. Can De’Vondre Campbell still play?

Campbell was an All-Pro just three seasons ago. Since then his overall production has dipped, but it could be a product of the personnel or scheme in Green Bay. He’s an undeniably talented veteran who should be able to fill in for Greenlaw even if it is past time for Campbell to be that level of player. Playing next to Warner should elevate the 31-year-old. How much it elevates his play is something we’ll be intrigued to see in camp.

2. Will Dre Greenlaw participate at all?

It sounds like Greenlaw is destined for the PUP list which would hold him out of camp and the first few weeks of the regular season. General manager John Lynch said Greenlaw wants to return by Week 1, although the GM did indicate that timeline was probably too ambitious. If Greenlaw participates in any camp though it would be a good sign that he’s tracking toward returning early in the year. If he spends all of camp on PUP, which is the most likely scenario, we can expect a mid-to-late season return if he’s able to suit up in 2024 at all.

3. Who’s the third LB?

While the Greenlaw saga plays out we’ll also need to keep an eye on which player steps in as the Sam LB in base packages. Last year the role belonged to Oren Burks who jumped up to the WLB spot when Greenlaw went down. The SLB isn’t on the field very often given how often defenses run in sub packages against modern offenses, but the winner of that job would likely be the first player up in the event that one of Campbell or Warner are unavailable. There’s a relative lack of experience behind the two starters, which makes SLB a pretty significant question mark and position battle in camp.

4. How are the 2023 picks coming along?

This one piggybacks off the third LB conversation. San Francisco selected LBs Dee Winters and Jalen Graham late on Day 3 in last year’s draft. Neither player contributed defensively as rookies, but there’s reason for optimism about both given the 49ers’ penchant for finding quality LB talent. This is a wide open door for both to step into a starting role as the third LB. If either of them takes that job this season it bodes well for their future as a contributor for San Francisco’s defense. Watching their progress should be a fun aspect of camp this year.

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Demario Davis selected for PFN’s All-Decade Team

New Orleans Saints linebacker Demario Davis was selected for the NFL All-Decade Team of the 2020s at Pro Football Network:

The respect keeps rolling in for Demario Davis, who was recognized on this NFL All-Decade Team from Dallas Robinson for Pro Football Network. Robinson highlighted the best players at every position through the first leg of the 2020s, and the New Orleans Saints linebacker was an easy choice.

Here’s why he made the cut on Robinson’s list:

A late bloomer in the NFL, Demario Davis has become a genuine force since signing with the Saints in 2019. He’s received a first- or second-team All-Pro nod in five consecutive seasons and has been named a Pro Bowler the last two. His 6.5 sacks in 2023 ranked second among off-ball linebackers.

Davis joined the Saints in 2018, not 2019, but we’ll let it slide. He joined other linebackers Fred Warner, Roquan Smith, and Bobby Wagner on the list, and each of them have been regulars at the Pro Bowl and on the All-Pro teams in recent years. That’s good company to be in, though Davis was the only member of the Saints to make the cut.

So how high will Davis’ star climb? It’s a shame he languished on those bad New York Jets and Cleveland Browns teams to start his career, and time isn’t on his side; he turned 35 this offseason and is the oldest active linebacker in the league. He hasn’t slowed down yet but it’s realistic to think the Saints only have another year or two with him captaining their defense.

Depending on how the final phase of his career turns out, Davis just might build a compelling case for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Now wouldn’t that be something?

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49ers have good track record with extending players like Brandon Aiyuk

Freaking out about Brandon Aiyuk not having a contract yet? Good news! We’ve been here before:

The 49ers’ way of doing business might be a bit anxiety-inducing for fans. As other wide receivers have signed big contracts this offseason, San Francisco has calmly acted upon their usual soft deadline of training camp. They’ve operated this way throughout the Kyle Shanahan-John Lynch era, and as of mid-June there’s no real reason to believe the Brandon Aiyuk contract situation is any different.

San Francisco has gotten high-priced, long-term extensions done with wide receiver Deebo Samuel, tight end George Kittle, linebacker Fred Warner and defensive end Nick Bosa over the last few offseasons. There are other big contracts in there, but these are the team’s drafted players who have earned sizable deals at or near the top of the market for their second contract.

Kittle’s extension was first reported on August 13, 2020. Warner got his big deal the following year, and that was first reported July 21. Reports of Samuel’s deal in the 2022 offseason came down July 31. Bosa is the outlier because he held out until the week the regular season kicked off in early September, but nevertheless he got a contract that at the time made him the highest-paid non-quarterback in NFL history.

It’s easy to point to recent reports of Aiyuk’s pessimism, or that the 49ers aren’t indicating that they’ll rescind fines for missed practices and surmise that there’s something extraordinary going on with these particular negotiations. Never mind that Samuel outright requested a trade and while the Jets were on the clock with the No. 10 pick in the 2022 draft there was real speculation that the pick would be dealt to the 49ers in exchange for the All-Pro wide receiver. Alas, the fever broke and Samuel eventually got his deal.

One outlier here is that the other WRs who would be setting the market have almost all done their contracts already. Lions WR Amon-Ra St. Brown, Dolphins WR Jaylen Waddle, Eagles WRs DeVonta Smith and AJ Brown, and Vikings WR Justin Jefferson have all gotten their proverbial bags. Aiyuk and CeeDee Lamb, both first-round picks in 2020 and entering the final year of their rookie contracts, are the only two big-time receivers left without extensions.

Perhaps there’s some kind of waiting game with that duo to see which of them sets the market below Jefferson, who earned a four-year deal worth up to $140 with $110 million guaranteed from Minnesota in early June.

The more likely scenario is that the 49ers are following their typical path where they don’t feel any urgency in mid-June while players are away from the team with nothing substantial happening on the NFL calendar until late July when training camp begins.

Bosa last season was an outlier because his deal was a little more complicated given the scale of the contract. The reigning Defensive Player of the Year received a five-year, $170 million contract with $122.5 million guaranteed. It was the largest non-QB contract ever, and thus might have required more back-and-forth.

With Aiyuk things are a little less sticky. There’s a very clear range he should be landing with lots of contracts from comparable players to go off of. And it’s hard to believe the 49ers weren’t anticipating that level of contract when they chose not to trade the All-Pro WR during the draft.

There’s certainly still some negotiating to do, and it may get more publicly volatile in the weeks leading up to training camp. That’s not out of the ordinary for the 49ers though and the delay with Aiyuk is the same delay every other player who got a big extension from the team had to endure.

Perhaps Aiyuk or the 49ers are being wholly unrealistic and we see a rare case where San Francisco botches an extension on a budding star player. Until that happens though their track record remains far stronger than not in this area, and that’s an important thing to remember as the negotiations continue to unfold.

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