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Day 5: One Robert replaces another at WR

Unfortunately, receiver Robert Jordan of Cal was released today so he could deal with a death in his family, 49ers coach Mike Nolan said.

Nolan said he would like to bring back the undrafted rookie at some point. It was Jordan's decision to leave the team, Nolan said. He might be a candidate for the practice squad when the regular season begins.

Taking his place on the 81-man roster is Robert Ortiz (San Diego State).

Ortiz (6-1, 188) was originally signed as a rookie free agent by the Chargers in 2006. He caught 27 passes for 255 yards and two TDs for the Frankfurt Galaxy of NFL Europa in 2007. He signed with the Seahawks last summer, but was waived in training camp. He signed with the Patriots in May and was waived last week.

--Former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer is first up as a speaker to the team. He will address the club tonight. When Nolan was told by a media member that none of his players are likely to recognize Fleischer, he mentioned Eric Heitmann as someone who should know something about Fleischer.

--Safety Mark Roman sat out injury with a hamstring pull. He is day-to-day. Dashon Goldson took the first-team snaps in place of Roman, while D.J. Parker was elevated to the second team.

--Rookie defensive lineman Kentwan Balmer sustained a right ankle sprain that knocked him out of practice early. He was limping around under his own power. Nolan said the injury will require further evaluation, but it does not appear to be a serious condition.

--There was a Cam Colvin sighting. He caught a nice ball from Kyle Wright against Markus Curry during one-one-one period.

--Marcus Hudson re-routed Ortiz at the line of scrimmage, throwing off the timing on a pass from Wright.

--Jason Hill went up and wrestled a pass away from cornerback Nate Clements.

--Nice one-on-one battle between Bryant Johnson and rookie Reggie Smith, as Johnson used his size to help him fend off Smith to catch a pass from J.T. O'Sullivan.

--Defensive coordinator Greg Manusky was again seen getting frustrated with Brandon Moore being in the wrong spot -- or carrying out an incorrect assignment -- during a 9-on-7 run drill.

--During the 11-on-11 session, Alex Smith's second pass was intercepted by linebacker Patrick Willis. Smith tried to squeeze in a quick pass to Frank Gore. After this play, Mike Martz asked that the team line up again. Clearly, Smith made a wrong read on the play, so Martz wanted Smith to see that defense again. When they walked threw it a second time, the ball went to Isaac Bruce.

--Bruce went through his most extensive practice time of camp. He took part in the 11-on-11 session, catching two passes and taking a handoff on a reverse.

(Quick story on Bruce: A couple days ago, I was heading to my car on the street when I noticed someone backing up to get the spot in front of mine. When I got to my car, Bruce was in front of me, getting out of his car. He stood up, looked at me and asked, "Did I leave you enough room to get out?" He had. I thought, "Well, now that's a very courteous gentleman." Today, he spoke to quite a few reporters at his locker while looking straight ahead into his locker and giving one-sentence answers. It was quite painful, so I pulled the rip cord after just a couple questions and non-answers.)

--After Bruce's first catch, Manny Lawson gave him a nice little shove in the back.

--Shawntae Spencer and Nate Clements broke up passes on back-to-back plays on Smith passes intended for Bruce and Jason Hill.

--During a special-teams portion, Andy Lee was booming the ball. Allen Rossum, Ortiz, Bruce and Clements were back there. Rossum had one ball bounce off his helmet. Ortiz dropped a punt that Brandon Moore recovered way down the field.

--During one-on-one pass rush, Roderick Green got past Jonas Jennings once. But Jennings regrouped and got the better of Green on the next snap. Jennings later did a number on Parys Haralson.

--Rookie center Cody Wallace had a nice showing against Joe Cohen; Justin Smith got the better of Adam Snyder; DE Walter Curry beat Brian de la Puente in a battle of training camp players who both were No. 60; Green ducked inside OL Joe Toledo.

--One thing to note, I haven't seen Manny Lawson particpate in the one-on-one pass drills. The other OLBs will do some pass rush, then they'll go back to the other side of the field for the 7-on-7 pass drills. Lawson appears to be much more valuable to the 49ers in pass coverage, rather as a pass-rusher.

--Over on the 7-on-7 side of the field, rookie Larry Grant picked off a Smith pass.

--Back to 11-on-11, Jason Hill was advised of a bad route after a pass from Shaun Hill was nowhere near the intended receiver.

--When the second defense was on the field, Atiyyah Ellison took the snaps at LE in place of Balmer (ankle). The corners were Tarell Brown and Marcus Hudson. Brown had good coverage on Jerard Rabb on a deep pass from Hill.

--The 49ers finished with 10 minutes of review, in which the players went at quarter-speed without helmets. That was the first time Nolan has implemented that element into practice.

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Posted July 29, 2008 8:43:13 AM
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Comments | Add Comment

Posted By: StonerLab (29/07/2008 6:43:17 PM)
Comment: No oneniner after 28 years of being a season ticket holder I'm done with waking up at 5:30am on Sundays & drive 2 hours from Folsom then getting back at 9:00pm. That's a long day of tailgating, football & driving. I'll be happy to watch the 49er games from my sofa from here on out.

Posted By: mike in MD (29/07/2008 3:15:20 PM)
Comment: That sucks about Jordan. I wish him & his family the best. He reminded me of a poor man's DJackson, both burners (sub 4.4/40's). I heard he ran solid routes & would make a good compliment to this group w/his quickness & speed. I was really pulling for him in this Offense. Martz's Wes Welker type, a hard to cover smaller WR. Matt..can you clear something up. I know Manny ended up being an asset dropping back in coverage but weren't we also going to have him rush the passer MORE now that we're supposedly more ready personnel-wise to run the 3-4? (Or should I say WHEN we decide to line up in a 3-4?) And correct me if I'm wrong but one of the many other options in the 3-4 is to keep back the weak side OLB & send the other OLB instead after the QB which is Manny right? So right now would you say Nolan/Staff are more worried that Manny's not 100% healthy yet to have him take part in the 1-on-1 pass rush drills? This is almost like the VD situation. They discovered he was a great blocker so they overused him there. I believe the Coaches are still trying to develop Manny as a legit pass rusher, would you say that is accurate? Thanks.

Posted By: oneniner (29/07/2008 2:46:43 PM)
Comment: cmon Stonerlab, you know better not to pay attention to those type of comments on Balmer by amateurs.......by the way are you buying season tickets this year?

Posted By: StonerLab (29/07/2008 2:42:50 PM)
Comment: I don't understand the negative takes from some of the 49er Empire on Balmer. He is a rookie right? And he's not going agianst other college players but grown NFL men right? either some of you are too impatient or you're just out of touch with reality altogether. My god we're just days into TC & you expect Balmer to already be the 2nd coming of Reggie White for christ sakes! How about giving these young players time to learn & devlope. Not every rookie can make an impact like PW from the get-go.

Posted By: oneniner (29/07/2008 2:18:56 PM)
Comment: Then who is the weak link on the line?....Skip is right, I read almost every reporters input from the niner camp and everytime i read about Adam Snyder, the story is "Synder gets beat inside/outside."........nobody is making it up, its a consistent message from camp, and that is why people are worried. Synder has never been a full time guard, there has to be some concern about his mental state of mind and physical strength to play a full season as a starter. And by the way he was average last year at tackle.

Posted By: Indiana Jim (29/07/2008 2:10:40 PM)
Comment: Graham - Martz was asked about do-overs during yesterday's Q&A session. He said, "I think when there's a mistake at the line of scrimmage with a snap count, somebody jumps offsides, you have to do that over. But if you run a play and it's not done right, there's a place for when they run the play and you watch, if they made a mistake because they didn't understand how to do that against that structure defense, a do-over is good because you can do it over and correct it. Most of the times do-overs happen in the film room and you come out and do it again the next day. There are sometimes it's necessary to re-load it and do it again because somebody completely misunderstood how to do that. You want to get that fixed for everybody right away. It doesn't happen very often, but there's a place for that."

Posted By: Zolo76 (29/07/2008 2:10:05 PM)
Comment: Matt, I was curious as to how Eric Heitmann would know what Ari Fleischer looks like. Could it be due to his college major maybe?

Posted By: C.T. (29/07/2008 2:04:55 PM)
Comment: Fleischer met with the Chargers yesterday as well. http://myespn.go.com/blogs/afcwest?tag=ari%20fleischer

Posted By: Dan P (29/07/2008 1:45:03 PM)
Comment: Matt, this was asked below, but I too have wondered about drafting Balmer in the 1st round. Clearly it is early in TC, but he has been pencilled in as a back-up on a team that lacks star power on the defensive side of the ball. Do you think management went with a safe pick over one that potentially had more flash?

Posted By: DMC (29/07/2008 1:29:36 PM)
Comment: I don't understand why people are worried about Snyder. He's solid. We also have Rachal we can move over if he's not. If your gotta worry about something on the o-line worry about Staley missing time with the foot infection.

Posted By: Graham (29/07/2008 1:28:18 PM)
Comment: Pretty amazing...first time at 1/4 speed. I don't make a living second-guessing professionals, but isn't this sort of a story? Also, the do-over with Martz...is that the first time you've seen anything like that at a 49ers practice, Matt? I seem to remember that Hostler's philosophy was to burn through as many plays as possible, whether or not they were done right. Actually, mostly I remember members of Instant-49ers-Nation complaining about it, and remarking about how Walsh would never put up with sloppiness...just curious.

Posted By: fads (29/07/2008 1:25:43 PM)
Comment: Matt may know something different, but my understanding is that Fleischer is a consultant to the NFL who is made available to teams seeking to give their younger players insights into how to handle media questions, press avails, and the like. It has nothing to do with politics.

Posted By: Demian (29/07/2008 1:24:48 PM)
Comment: oneniner - Its obvious your the weak link dude. " maybe we need LA back ? " Why ? So he blow pass protection and get Alex hurt again so we can be terrible another year ? No thanks.

Posted By: Skip (29/07/2008 1:17:30 PM)
Comment: Almost every time I hear something about Adam Synder it sounds like "Synder gets beat inside/outside." Makes me real nervous for the o-line.

Posted By: AF (29/07/2008 1:12:06 PM)
Comment: I feel badly for young Mr. Jordan and his loss, but here's hoping Cam Colvin gets a chance to bump up the depth chart and maybe make the practice squad!

Posted By: Randy in Santa Rosa (29/07/2008 1:11:59 PM)
Comment: I wouldn't say Snyder is a weak link... I would say J. Smith is a hog!

Posted By: oneniner (29/07/2008 1:02:36 PM)
Comment: its obvious Adam Snyder is the weak link, maybe we do need Allen back.....honestly Matt, do you think Adam Snyder is a capable of being a full time starter?

Posted By: Rick (las Vegas) (29/07/2008 1:02:29 PM)
Comment: Isn't it stupid that Balmer isn't starting. If he wasn't good enough to start they shouldn't have drafted him in the 1st. The sad thing is, is all i heard was he's able to eat blockers. It just so happens we have Abruyo Franklin starting at DT.

Posted By: oneniner (29/07/2008 12:59:30 PM)
Comment: Ari Fleischer? - cmon they couldn't find someone authentic........its strange how Ulbrich keeps getting better and Moore is still unreliable....

Posted By: samr (29/07/2008 12:58:49 PM)
Comment: Matt - 1. Issac Bruce showed class in the parking lot incident; 2. you showed class in backing of the questioning when he was obviously uncomfortable; 3. The Niners showed questionable class in letting professional sports get within a mile of politics (Ari Fleischmann still shills (on an amateur basis) for the Bush Administration, and I'd say the same thing if the speaker was a Demo "pol".

Posted By: oneniner (29/07/2008 12:55:27 PM)
Comment: DMC - PLAYOFFS

Posted By: DMC (29/07/2008 12:39:09 PM)
Comment: Thanks Matt. Just read the Martz interview from yesterday. Great stuff. One question. What happens if our defense is better than last years and our offense can score more than twenty points a game ?

Posted By: D.A. (29/07/2008 12:22:45 PM)
Comment: I really hope B. Moore gets it together. I'd like to see him win the job. Too bad about Jordan. Maybe Practice Squad for him.

Posted By: shajsllama (29/07/2008 12:22:19 PM)
Comment: i want goldson to start over lewis, maybe he has a better chance now

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