Patrick Willis sat out practice with a right ankle strain, according to the team. It’s not a sprain – it’s a strain, which means it’s an injury to a muscle. Sprain is a ligament issue, so I believe this is good – and not a big deal.
Justin Smith also sat out the contact part of practice, but he might be back this afternoon. I think the team was just resting him. Moran Norris was back on the field after missing the first two days to attend to personal issues.
Cornerback Tarell Brown (toe) and outside linebacker Parys Haralson (hip flexor) sat out this morning.
Here’s a run down from the morning practice:
–The 49ers opened with the “nutcracker” drill, in which an offensive player and defensive player of relative size square off in head-to-head, straight-forward contact. Among the sequences I saw (there were six stations across the field): Frank Gore pushed back Dashon Goldson; Glen Coffee moved Michael Lewis, but I later saw Lewis flatten Coffee; after an initial statemate, Khalif Mitchell tossed down David Baas; Dominique Zeigler pushed back Jahi Word-Daniels; Alex Boone and Pannel Egboh were even; Manny Lawson more than held his own against Vernon Davis every time I saw (I’d give Lawson a slight win every time); Kentwan Balmer did OK against Adam Snyder, but Chilo Rachal powered Balmer; Arnaz Battle won against Marcus Hudson; Jay Moore and Bear Pascoe were pretty even; J.J. Finley got the better of Diyral Briggs; Cody Wallace fared well against Babatunde Oshinowo; Tony Wragge won against Egboh; Mitchell and Jacob Bender were even; Pascoe did well against Ahmad Brooks; and in the big surprise of the session, Kyle Howard got the upper hand on Isaac Sopoaga and received some high-fives for his effort.
–The 49ers worked on kickoff return. The first-team kick return unit featured Allen Rossum, Michael Robinson, Delanie Walker, Balmer, Norris, Takeo Spikes, Reggie Smith, Zak Keasey, Jeff Ulbrich, Hudson and Brooks. The second-team unit was
–The 49ers are sticklers for doing the little things. Mike Singletary made the defense reform their huddle the correct way.
–Ulbrich took over for Wills, while Balmer played RDE in place of Justin Smith.
–Shaun Hill opened with the first team. He completed all four passing attempts in the first portion of 11-on-11, but he had to scramble out of the pocket once. Singletary said there were too many bodies around the quarterback.
–Reggie Smith was the nearest player in coverage on Hill passes to Walker and Davis. On the first Alex Smith pass, Reggie Smith broke up the ball intended for Micheal Spurlock.
–Frank Gore did a nice job of picking up OLB Jay Moore off the left edge.
–Dominique Zeigler showed his fabulous hands when he stretched his 6-foot-3 frame to the maximum to catch a high pass from Smith on a short hitch.
–During a passing drill, Josh Morgan made a sensational leaping catch of a deep pass against the coverage of Nate Clements and Curtis Taylor.
–Inside linebacker Mark Washington got a lot of coaching on the field, as he did not seem to be always where the coaches wanted him.
–In one-on-one pass rush: Manny Lawson made a nice inside move to beat Joe Staley; Mitchell got through Cody Wallace, but later Wallace locked up Mitchell; Evans pushed back Joe Toledo but Toledo did a good job of staying between the pass-rusher and the QB; Boone had a very nice sequence against Jay Moore, eliciting a “Good job, Alex;” newly added guard Matt Spanos performed nicely against Oshinowo.
–On multiple-player rush drills, the offensive line did a good job of handling stunts. Rachal and Snyder fared well against Brooks and Balmer; Baas and Staley held their ground against Evans and Lawson; Harris got around Boone on one play, but the next time the Boone-Wragge tandem did well against Harris and Sopoaga.
–Back to 11-on-11, undrafted rookie Terrail Lambert blanketed Arnaz Battle on a Smith deep pass.
–The 49ers focused on the run game, as 13 of the 18 plays during this session were runs. Glen Coffee got the ball stripped from behind (well down the field) by
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My wife, Sarah, asked me a good question last night: How far apart are the 49ers and Michael Crabtree, in terms of actual dollars?
Answer: First, it seems to me that the major difference is more philosophical. Like the real-estate market, it’s all about comparables. Crabtree’s agent, Eugene Parker, wants one set of comparables as the basis, while – as I understand it – the 49ers believe it’s pretty straight-forward based on where Crabtree was selected in the draft.
So if I were to take an educated-but-uninformed guess, I’d say the sides are in the neighborhood of $8-10 million apart in guaranteed money.
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Offensive coordinator Jimmy Raye said of Michael Crabtree: “I don’t know any more about him than I did when we drafted him.”
Josh Morgan has a chance to be the No. 1 receiver this season. He is becoming more entrenched the longer Crabtree is away from the team. Raye said Josh Morgan’s versatility is a real asset. Morgan – like
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And more name-dropping . . .
–RB Thomas Clayton, a popular player among readers of this blog based on his play in the past two exhibition seasons, has not seen much work in 11-on-11. Undrafted rookie Kory Sheets is getting more action than Clayton.
–On the third-team defense, undrafted rookies Carlos Thomas is lining up at right cornerback, while Jahi Word-Daniels plays left cornerback.
–Behind the top four inside linebackers (Patrick Willis, Takeo Spikes, Scott McKillop and Jeff Ulbrich) are ted Mark Washington and mike Justin Roland.
–The designated leg in training camp is Alex Romero. The 49ers save a roster spot by having Romero serve as the backup punter and kicker. One thing about the first-year player from
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