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Deebo Samuel’s return highlights the #49ers’ Thursday practice report. But it’s not all good news.
The 49ers’ Thursday practice report had a couple key changes from Wednesday as the 49ers’ injury situation continues to neither improve nor get worse.
Here’s a look at Thursday’s report and the notable changes:
The #49ers’ practice report remained largely unchanged Thursday.
No news isn’t necessarily good news for the 49ers on the injury front.
Their Thursday practice participation report looked largely identical to the one the team issued Wednesday. Left tackle Trent Williams remained out of commission with ankle and elbow issues, and rookie quarterback Trey Lance is still absent with a knee sprain.
One addition to the limited participants was the only change Thursday.
LT Trent Williams is day-to-day with an ankle sprain. #49ers
It was a little surprising when 49ers left tackle Trent Williams showed up Wednesday as a non-participant in the team’s practice report. Head coach Kyle Shanahan indicated before the session that ankle and elbow injuries would be the cause of Williams’ absence, but Thursday the team specified a sprained ankle for the left tackle. He’s day-to-day.
Williams missed two games for the 49ers last season and played in Week 5 this year despite missing part of the fourth quarter of a Week 4 loss to the Seahawks because of a shoulder issue.
His absence early in the week doesn’t necessarily rule him out for Sunday, but it certainly isn’t a great sign.
Rookie left tackle Jaylon Moore would be next in line to replace Williams. Moore played 22 snaps in Williams’ stead in Week 4 and performed well enough to hold down the swing tackle spot. He also filled in there during the preseason when Williams wasn’t playing in games.
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The #49ers didn’t have LT Trent Williams or QB Trey Lance when they returned to practice ahead of their game vs. the Colts.
An early bye week helped, but the 49ers’ injury problem is still lingering heading into Week 7.
While a couple starters returned to action after the week off, a handful of key players sat out Wednesday’s practice as San Francisco gears up to face the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday Night Football.
One note on the 49ers’ practice report, running back JaMycal Hasty did not show up because he’s still on injured reserve even though his practice window has been opened. He won’t be required to show up on such reports until he’s officially activated off IR. There’s a chance he’s activated by the end of the week and suiting up Sunday.
Here’s Wednesday’s practice report:
Take a look at how each former Sooner performed in week one of the NFL season.
The first week of the NFL season is now in the books and it’s time to take a look at how former Oklahoma Sooners performed in their opening week matchups.
The week was highlighted by outstanding performances from the trio of former Sooners starting at quarterback. Kyler Murray, Jalen Hurts, and Baker Mayfield combined for 874 yards passing, and eight total touchdowns. Though Mayfield didn’t throw a touchdown pass, he had the highest passing yardage total and completion percentage in week one.
Not to be outdone by the quarterbacks, Sterling Shepard had one of his best games as a pro for the New York Giants and Joe Mixon helped lead the Cincinnati Bengals to an overtime win over the Minnesota Vikings.
Take a look at how each of the former Sooners in the NFL performed in week one.
As voted on by the players, three former Oklahoma Sooners make the NFL Top 100 for 2021.
Under Lincoln Riley, the Oklahoma Sooners have become quite the offensive juggernaut. The level of production he’s gotten out of his offenses has been something to marvel at. His quarterbacks, in particular, have helped spur a movement of offensive skill players to the Sooners through both the transfer portal and via traditional recruiting.
The success on Saturdays has carried over to Sundays, and the more success Oklahoma’s Sooners in the NFL have, the more it will speak to recruits making their decisions on where to play college football.
As the NFL season is about to start, the NFL Network is working through its annual list of the Top 100 players in the NFL. The Oklahoma Sooners had three players make the list heading into 2021; let’s take a look.
The last we saw of Mayfield, he was nearly leading the Browns to a huge playoff upset of the Chiefs after playing the best ball of his pro career during the second half of 2020. He’s closed out all three of his seasons on a high note. He’s also gotten off to slow starts each year. Perhaps all the turnover at head coach and offensive coordinator were the primary cause. Will stability on the sideline manifest into consistency on the playing field? Cleveland needs more from its QB in order to fulfill Super Bowl aspirations. Mayfield’s past suggests he’s up for the challenge. – Adam Maya, NFL.com
Baker Mayfield’s shown a ton of growth since entering the league. After a strong rookie season, he and the Browns struggled a bit in his second year in the NFL. Last season, under new head coach and play-caller Kevin Stefanski, Mayfield had the best season of his career thus far.
After 14 interceptions in his rookie season and 21 in year two, Mayfield cut his interceptions to eight in 2020. A dramatic decrease while posting the highest QBR of his career.
Mayfield and the Browns won their first playoff game in 26 years, and the Browns are one of the teams to watch in the AFC heading into 2021.
A former Sooners offensive lineman ranks in the top 50.
Trent Williams won’t suit up for the #49ers against the Chargers, but he should be back for the final preseason game.
49ers left tackle Trent Williams won’t make his preseason debut in Week 2 against the Chargers. He was out Thursday for their first joint practice with Los Angeles, and head coach Kyle Shanahan said Williams would miss the entire week.
The good news for San Francisco is that Shanahan doesn’t anticipate missing Williams for more than one week. The left tackle had his knee drained following a hit in Monday’s practice.
“Trent, he was going to go to this day,” Shanahan said. “He had a little swelling in his knees so we drained it out. He’s going to take this week off and hopefully he’ll be ready for the Las Vegas week.”
Getting Williams on the field at some point in the preseason isn’t super imperative given his familiarity with the offense. However, the 49ers would probably like to get him in for a handful of snaps just to gear up for the regular season.
Shanahan didn’t sound concerned when pressed on a possible long-term issue for Williams. Missing the second week of the preseason isn’t a huge deal. If that lingers into the third week it could definitely raise some alarms. For now though, the 49ers only anticipate a week absence for the veteran which will give rookie LT Jaylon Moore some additional reps against the Chargers starters.
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Three former Oklahoma Sooners land on Touchdown Wire’s top 101 players in the NFL.
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With the NFL preseason underway, that means the regular season is just around the corner. There are plenty of former Oklahoma Sooners looking for big seasons during the 2021 campaign.
Players such as Kyler Murray and CeeDee Lamb played big in Norman and put huge rookie years in the NFL. Though they performed well in 2020, neither made the list for the top 101 players according to Touchdown Wire.
However, three players who wore Crimson and Cream did make the cut, starting with a playmaking tight end.
Andrews is heading into his fourth season with the Baltimore Ravens, and he joins plenty of former Oklahoma Sooners on the team. In three seasons, Andrews has appeared in 45 games with just nine starts. During that time, he has 156 receptions for 2,105 yards and 20 touchdowns.
Not just productive in terms of yards and touchdowns, Andrews averages a first down every 1.4 receptions in his career. He keeps the chains moving for the Ravens’ offense. The former Sooner is also a good blocker which keeps him on the field and doesn’t give defenses any indication of what is coming.
If you are going to be a tight end for the Baltimore Ravens, you need to have the complete tool-kit.
That is why Mark Andrews appears so high on this list. The Ravens are one of the teams in the league that relies the most on multiple-TE packages, running 22 offensive personnel (two tight ends) on 16% of their snaps, the highest percentage in the league. That tasks Andrews with not only being a factor in the passing game, but also handling the variety of blocking assignments in Baltimore’s offense.
Next, a Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback
Where do the Oklahoma Sooners fall in the battle to claim superiority at the positional level? ESPN released their “Position U” Rankings.
One of the bigger topics of debate around college football is which school has had the best positional success. LSU, Texas, and Ohio State all claim to be “DBU” or defensive back university. How a team recruits and develops players at that position can have a lasting effect in the recruiting battles. Schools love to point to the players they helped develop into NFL-caliber talents.
That’s why the Oklahoma Sooners will put as many Baker Mayfield, Kyler Murray, and Jalen Hurts highlights into a video package because of their recent college success and their current status in the NFL. Schools will highlight team success, but often when it comes to landing four and five-star recruits it can come down to how much success players at their position had in college and at the next level.
Before we get to 2021 in earnest, let’s take a look back at ESPN’s “Position U” rankings.
How did ESPN come to their rankings?
It’s a combination of college success, draft stock and NFL success. Our formula awards points for all-conference and All-America selections, rewarding the best college performers. It awards points on a sliding scale based on where a player is drafted, rewarding impressive NFL evaluations. Then, using data from Pro Football Reference, we add more points for production through the first five years of the player’s NFL career — beyond that, credit belongs to the NFL trainers and coaches — so that the draft busts and the late bloomers all get credit, too. – David M. Hale
The Sooners have provided some of the best talent in the history of the Big 12. Which of them make this 21st-century All-Big 12 team?
Since the turn of the century, the Oklahoma Sooners have had some of the best players in college football on both sides of the ball. Quarterbacks Jason White, Sam Bradford, Landry Jones, Baker Mayfield, Kyler Murray, and Jalen Hurts have been some of the best at the position in the last 20 years.
The star-studded Sooners have found success between the lines and at awards ceremonies. In the Big 12, no team has come close to their sustained level of excellence over the last 20 years. Though it’s been 21 years since their last national championship, their dominance of the Big 12 can’t be understated.
They’ve been as talented as anyone in the country, even if that hasn’t always translated to national championship success.
It’s no surprise then that when Bleacher Report’s Kerry Miller put together the All-Big 12 Team of the 21st century, Sooners of the past were quite prevalent on the team.
Here were the guidelines he put in place to define the 21st century.
The 21st century began on January 1, 2001. That means the 2000 season does not count. Only seasons in which the program was part of the Big 12 counted. That means players from Nebraska and Colorado from 2001-10, Missouri and Texas A&M from 2001-11 and West Virginia and TCU from 2012-Present were eligible for consideration, but not for the years outside of those ranges. – Miller
Let’s take a look at the Sooners that made Bleacher Report’s All-Big 12 team of the 21st century. Unfortunately, not every spot could be filled with a player from Oklahoma. However, several Sooners could make an argument for inclusion on this list.
