The 49ers held their first padded practice of training camp on Monday. It was also their longest.
Here is what stood out from the 49ers fifth day of training camp in Santa Clara.
Brock Purdy
Purdy returned to the practice field after having a scheduled day off on Sunday.
One of the areas Purdy needed to address this offseason was stepping up in the pocket. Too often during his rookie season Purdy would bounce out the back of the pocket to his left when faced with pressure.
In the first live padded practice of camp, Purdy stepped up into the pocket several times for completions. The best came when he stepped forward and found Christian McCaffrey down the left seam for a long touchdown. Later during a move the ball period, Purdy again moved forward and found Deebo Samuel on a shallow crosser to convert a third and five situation.
The day wasn’t completely smooth for Purdy who threw his second interception of training camp and had the ball knocked out of his hand in the pocket leading to a fumble.
Purdy’s interception came when he tried to hit George Kittle on a deep out. Kittle looked open initially, but linebacker Dre Greenlaw was able to get underneath the tight end to come up with the turnover.
During an extended move the ball period Purdy was excellent, connecting on six of seven attempts. The lone incompletion came when Purdy went deep to Brandon Aiyuk and Deommodore Lenoir leading to a pass interference on the defensive back.
Trey Lance
Kyle Shanahan talks about the need for players to stack good days together. That’s exactly what Trey Lance has done. After going 5-8 with a touchdown Sunday, Lance came back today and completed nine of eleven attempts.
Lance’s first throw of team set the tone. Following play action, Lance drilled a throw over the middle to Danny Gray. The throw was so strong that you could hear the ball hit the chest plate of Gray’s shoulder pads.
The strong day for Lance continued during move the ball period with Lance leading the second team offense to three first downs and a long field goal in four attempts.
Facing third and ten on the second series, Lance uncorked a terrific pass to Chris Conley along the right sideline to pick up the first down. What made this play so nice was the timing by Lance. The quarterback hit his back foot and the ball was coming out well before Conley finished his break.
On the next series Lance again faced a third down situation. Needing to pick up two yards, Lance stood in against a blitz and delivered a strike to Brandon Aiyuk to convert.
Lance delivered again on third down to wrap up his final series of the day. Facing third and 14, he connected with Tay Martin along the right sideline for a gain of 12, setting up a field goal attempt.
Sam Darnold
Darnold split his reps behind the second and third team offensive lines today. Like Lance, Darnold has stacked a pair of good days together. The veteran followed up his 8-10 performance on Sunday by connecting on seven of nine.
Like Purdy and Lance, Darnold did a good job of moving the offense. Facing third and eight on his first series, Darnold stepped up and connected with rookie wide receiver Ronnie Bell over the middle for a gain of ten.
On the next series, Darnold again connected with Bell on a throw to the right flat while rolling ot his right to convert a third and two situation.
The third down conversions didn’t end there for Darnold. Facing third and eight on the next possession he drilled a throw over the middle to Ray-Ray McCloud for a gain of 15.
Darnold finished his day by converting another third down with a throw to Danny Gray leading to a long field goal by Zane Gonzalez to finish practice.
Brandon Allen
With the return of Purdy, Allen saw his snaps reduced. He completed one of four attempts on the day.
Christian McCaffrey
McCaffrey returned to practice after taking a vet day on Sunday.
The running back showed off his explosiveness on a run over the left side, running through the 49ers defense for a long gain. McCaffrey also connected with Brock Purdy three times, including the long touchdown mentioned earlier.
Deebo Samuel
Deebo Samuel brought his big boy pads for the first padded practice of camp. Samuel looked explosive on a couple of runs, one ending with a loud thump when he lowered his shoulder and ran through an attempted tackle in the secondary.
Samuel also made his presence felt in the passing game with a reception from Purdy to convert on third down and a deep shot from Sam Darnold which resulted in a pass interference.
Brandon Aiyuk
For the second year in a row, Brandon Aiyuk was a catalyst to the first fight of training camp. The wideout and Dre Greenlaw began jawing between plays, leading to fisticuffs between the offense and defense.
Aiyuk saw just two targets today but made them count. The wideout got behind Deommodore Lenoir leading to a long pass interference and later picked up a first down on a short crosser from Trey Lance.
Ray-Ray McCloud
Monday was the busiest day of camp so far for McCloud. The veteran receiver caught all three targets which came his way including a pair of third down conversions over the middle, one from Lance and one from Darnold.
Ronnie Bell
The rookie wide receiver didn’t have a target through the first four practices of camp. Today he had three passes come his way and caught them all with two of them resulting in third down conversions.
Jordan Mason and Marcelino McCray-Ball
The second year running back and linebacker combined for the biggest collision of the day. Mason found a hole up the middle with the two meeting with a loud pop five yards past the line of scrimmage.
Jaylon Moore
Moore took all of the snaps at left tackle for the second consecutive practice. He held up well during on-n-one drills and this carried over to the team periods. Moore looks much improved over a season ago and appears to be the front runner for the 49ers swing tackle role.
Jack Colletto
The undrafted free agent fullback caught a pass from Brandon Allen. He also had a nice lead block which helped Jordan Mason pick up 15 yards on a run up the middle.
Javon Kinlaw
Kinlaw came into camp in the best shape of his career, and it showed today. The fourth year defensive tackle looked explosive during his one-on-one reps with the offensive line and this carried over to the rest of the day.
On one pass rush Kinlaw ran through Nick Zakelj leading to a quick checkdown. He also showed up in run defense with a pair of tackles at the line of scrimmage.
Alex Barrett
Barrett looked like the 49ers best defensive end on the field. setting the edge in the run game leading to a tackle for loss and putting pressure on the quarterback. The veteran faces an uphill climb to make the roster, but he made a strong case for himself today.
Dre Greenlaw
Greenlaw was fired up today, as evidenced by his jawing with Brandon Aiyuk. The linebacker also showed off his coverage skills by gaining enough depth to get underneath George Kittle and coming away with an interception.
Samuel Womack
The cornerback tackled Christian McCaffrey at the line of scrimmage on a run to the left. He also made a tackle for loss on a completion from Sam Darnold to Willie Snead in the left flat.
D’Shawn Jamison
Jamison drew praise from Brandon Aiyuk. Today it was John Lynch’s turn to compliment Jamison’s performance early in camp. According to Lynch, the undrafted rookie free agent has performed well enough to earn looks in the slot in addition to his reps on the outside.
Who’s been lining up at Mike for the second team?
Any news on how OT Joey Fisher and DL Spencer Waege are doing?
Lookin’ good, boy’s!
Very soon we will know if we really do have 3 starting caliber qbs. What a good problem to have.
Oh, yeah. Any more news on Khalon Leborn?
All 3 QBs looking good. I foresee a QB trade around the 1st of Sept.
My two biggest concerns about Purdy coming into this season were arm strength and interceptions. Well, arm strength doesn’t seem to be a problem but the Ints and near Ints are happening too much. I hope its not the beginning of a pattern. He got away with a number of dropped interceptions or near interceptions last year.
Some other on site observers called attention to Purdy’s lack of arm strength on his long throws today in addition to the interceptions. Shall be interesting to see how the QB situation sorts itself out between now and September.
The only QB situation to be determined is who is #2 and #3.
It’s training camp, so I think the QBs try passes to test their boundaries, but play more within their boundaries during an actual game. Remember the time Jimmy G. threw five straight INTs in camp and everyone including Jack freaked out. We never saw that in a game did we, although Jimmy G. would at times throw a maddening INT. But under the tutelage of Griese, he was much better last year with regards to INTs. Expect the same for this group.
Purdy had the 2nd highest completion percentage above expectation last year in the NFL, second to only Jommy G, i.e. on target throws. Just watched a video of his dropped INT’s with a total of THREE including playoffs. He had far more drops by his receivers on catchable balls. Purdy also lead the NFL in tight window throws at 34%, better than 2nd place Picket at 22%, and better than Mahomes’ 9%. He also set an NFL record of 80% completion on intermediate throws. Try again, Skippy!
How do they figure completion percentage above expectation?
Thanks, Jack, for your reporting.
I’m happy to hear how well Kinlaw is looking in TC.
I see Kinlaw backing up Hargrave and maybe even Armstead in the rotation. This defense will terrorize offenses if Kinlaw shows up on Sundays.
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David Lombardi
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Seems to be misconception about Brock Purdy’s day today — it certainly wasn’t a bad one. He had that ugly 2-throw stretch (short incompletion, then the Greenlaw INT), but Purdy also ripped off a bunch of completions. 4 straight early on, 8 straight later (and a drawn defensive PI) to sandwich the pick. He also hit the biggest 49ers’ play of the day, a 70-yard TD to Christian McCaffrey
2:36 PM · Jul 31, 2023
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Lombardi, also reported that Purdy took a hit on his throwing arm from Cle Farrell. Not sure how hard the hit was, but, I’m guessing Shanahan had a little pow-wow with Farrell on the sidelines.
Good news, is that there were no apparent effects in Purdy’s passes after the hit.
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Kyle Shanahan talks about the need for players to stack good days together. That’s exactly what Trey Lance has done. After going 5-8 with a touchdown Sunday, Lance came back today and completed nine of eleven attempts.
Is it time to worry about Ward’s injury?
There are reports (espn) that the 49ers are signing DE, Taco Charlton. If true, I’m wondering what prompted this move. Are the 49ers expecting a longer holdout than anticipated from Bosa?
Were they unhappy with Cle Farrell hitting Purdy in yesterday’s practice?
More likely just want another DE in the mix.
Reports are that Kinlaw is off to a great start and is injury free. If we end up with 3 highly effective defensive tackles, wow. They have even given Kinlaw some reps at End. The defense, sure looks like they are improved over a great defense last year. Another area that looks like a great upgrade is Moody. Of course he has to prove it in real games but based on his Michigan years, I’d say the odds are pretty high he’ll easily be worth the high pick. There is lots to be excited about this team. I’m looking forward to seeing how this year plays out.
At this point in time I am not worried about Bosa missing practice time. The 49ers had a DT/DE in the 80s named Kevin Fagan who would hold out almost every summer. He had a bad knee and basically just hated camp. There were no fines for holding out and he would report a couple of weeks before the 1st game He would workout on his own and wouldn’t miss a beat. He would start the first game and play well all year long. My point being a vet who keeps himself in shape doesn’t need a full camp (especially in the old days when camp was 2 months of two a days). My concern is that the Bosa family is famous for holdouts that last into the season. If he misses games the 49ers likely lose those games. If he hasn’t signed by the end of Aug. we should begin to worry big time.
Really? They loose games that Bosa is not playing in? Even against mediocre teams? So the other 52 players aren’t capable of winning a game?
Felix,
Chirp chirp thats the sound of crickets
I thought I’d give you a chance to defend your statement but I didn’t think you’d respond to the questions because your statement was beyond ridiculous and that’s being charitable.
Chirp, chirp