SANTA CLARA – Here’s what stood out to me at Saturday’s padded practice. THE GOOD 1. Ahmad Brooks – The 49ers practiced situational football near the end of the afternoon. Jim Harbaugh placed the ball on the offense’s goal line and gave them three downs to make a first down. On third and seven, Brooks beat Anthony Davis around the edge and sacked Kaepernick. 2. Ian Williams – He was…
SANTA CLARA – With 20 minutes remaining in practice, Jim Harbaugh set up a fourth down drill: Fourth and five from the opponent’s 20-yard line, the edge of the red zone. The offense had one chance to make a first down or a touchdown. The first-team offense faced the first-team defense and right away, Ahmad Brooks jumped offside like he did in the Super Bowl. The 49ers replayed the down…
SANTA CLARA – Here’s what stood out to me at the 49ers’ Thursday afternoon pad-less training camp practice. THE GOOD 1. Kyle Williams – He looked as explosive and fast as he did last offseason. In 7-on-7 drills, Williams blew past Marcus Cooper on a deep route and easily caught a 40-yard toss from B.J. Daniels. 2. Anquan Boldin – He snatched a sure interception away from Tarell Brown on…
This is my Monday column on the top-five questions the 49ers face this summer. Even though the 49ers are among the odds-on favorites to win the Super Bowl, like any other team, they confront certain issues. Two of their best players – Justin Smith and Frank Gore – are in their 30s and declining. The 49ers’ offensive MVP last season – Michael Crabtree – tore his Achilles tendon in OTAs….
The 49ers just announced they’ve placed Mario Manningham, Kendall Hunter, Kyle Williams and Darius Flemming on the Phyisically Unable to Perform list, and Tank Carradine, Quinton Dial, Luke Marquardt and Marcus Lattimore on the Active/Non-Football Injury list. Manningham potentially could miss all of training camp and start the regular season on the PUP list, meaning he would miss the first six games. The 49ers potentially could activate Williams and Hunter…
Predict how many snaps each of the 49ers’ offensive skill players will play during the upcoming regular season, and explain your predictions. Keep in mind, the 49ers’ offense played 1,032 snaps last regular season. Here are my predictions. 1. Vernon Davis – 1,000 snaps. He’ll play every single snap he’s physically able to play. 2. Anquan Boldin – 900 snaps. With Crabtree out, the 49ers need both Boldin and Davis…
SANTA CLARA – Here’s what Jim Harbaugh said after practice Thursday afternoon. Q: You ended practice early. Why? HARBAUGH: I really liked the practice today and the entire offseason. It was a great effort by our team. I like our team. I like where we’re at right now. It was a good camp. Q: It seemed like Colin Kaepernick and the first team offense really ended practice with a flourish….
SANTA CLARA – Here is what stood out to me at Day 3 of the 49ers’ mini-camp. If you have questions about anything else that happened at practice, ask me in the comment section. THE GOOD 1. Colin Kaepernick – He hadn’t done anything spectacular this offseason until this afternoon. He’d been mostly dinking and dunking. Colt McCoy had been more aggressive throwing downfield. Alex Smith had been more aggressive…
SANTA CLARA – Here’s what Colin Kaepernick said Thursday afternoon. Q: How tough has it been without Crabtree out here? KAEPERNICK: We have a lot of great receivers who are out here right now. Losing Crab, losing the other receivers who were here last season obviously isn’t something you want, but we have receivers out here working. Q: Are you worried about your timing and chemistry with the other guys?…
USA Today just reported 27-year-old wide receiver Austin Collie is working out for the 49ers Thursday. Collie (6-1, 200 pounds) started his career with the Indianapolis Colts and caught 172 passes for 1,839 yards and 16 TDs his first three seasons in the league. But he only played one game in 2012 due to a ruptured patella tendon and concussions. He was medically cleared to play football on Tuesday. If…
SANTA CLARA – Here is what stood out to me at Day 2 of the 49ers’ mini-camp. If you have questions about anything else that happened at practice, ask me in the comment section. THE GOOD 1. Nnamdi Asomugha – Played left cornerback for the first team defense and did not give up a completion in full-speed team drills. Asomugha broke up two passes from Colt McCoy in a three-play…
Here is my Wednesday column on A.J. Jenkins. SANTA CLARA – Apparently, A.J. Jenkins is two different people. When there are no fans or media watching him, when Jenkins is all alone with his teammates and his coaches, the former first-round pick is a fantastic receiver. That’s what Jim Harbaugh and Greg Roman said Tuesday. They said Jenkins had his best practices last Wednesday and Thursday, two practices which were…
SANTA CLARA – Here is what stood out to me at the 49ers’ Tuesday mini-camp. THE GOOD 1. Anquan Boldin – He was every quarterback’s favorite target, as usual. Five-of the-first-nine plays during 7-on-7 drills were passes to Boldin. He finished competitive team drills with seven catches and two touchdowns. He lined up at flanker and split end, but before the snap he usually went in motion and ended up…
SANTA CLARA – Here’s what A.J. Jenkins said Tuesday afternoon. Q: Did your mindset change when Michael Crabtree got hurt? JENKINS: My mindset going into this offseason was just trying to play more, regardless of whether Crabtree was hurt or not. It’ s unfortunate that he got an injury, but my mindset didn’t waver at all because he got hurt. Q: Roman said last week was the best you’ve practiced…
SANTA CLARA – Here’s what Greg Roman and Jim Harbaugh said about A.J. Jenkins Tuesday afternoon. Q: With Michael Crabtree out, have any of the young wide receivers stepped up in your eyes? ROMAN: Yeah, I think they’re stepping up and it’s a process. I think they’re working extremely hard. A.J., I thought the last two days of last week had the best days he’s had since I’ve been here….
SANTA CLARA – Here’s what stood out to me from Tuesday afternoon’s OTA session. Keep in mind that most of this session took place about 75 yards away from reporters, so I can’t give you the same amount of detail I normally would. THE GOOD 1. Vernon Davis. He made the best catch of the day. During 7-on-7 drills, he played a few snaps with the second-team offense. On one…
Here is my Thursday column on the 49ers’ offense, sans Michael Crabtree. SANTA CLARA –Without Michael Crabtree, the focal point of the San Francisco 49ers’ passing attack last season, the 49ers need all of their receivers to step up – Anquan Boldin, Vernon Davis, A.J. Jenkins and anyone else who can run and catch and breathe. At an afternoon OTA session this week, Boldin stepped up. He was unstoppable. He…
SANTA CLARA – Here’s what stood out to me from the 49ers’ second open OTA. THE GOOD 1. Anquan Boldin. He lined up in the slot about 90 percent of the time in 7-on-7 drills and 11-on-11 drills, and he caught 10 passes on 11 targets. He was the best offensive player on the field today by far. Every time he ran a route it seemed the quarterback threw it…
Jim Harbaugh spoke on 95.7 The Game Friday afternoon. Here’s what he said about the 49ers’ wide receivers. Q: Who do you expect to fill the void at wide receiver? HARBAUGH: “We’ll put (A.J.) Jenkins, (Quinton) Patton and Ricardo Lockette at the same position and let them compete and emerge. And the good news is somebody will emerge because they have to. And then the other side – Anquan Boldin,…
SANTA CLARA – Here’s the good and the not-so-good from the 49ers’ Wednesday OTA session. THE GOOD 1. Craig Dahl – He was the starting free safety, and he had the best day of all of the 49ers’ defensive backs. Dahl almost picked off Colin Kaepernick twice. First, Kaepernick tried to fire a pass to Chad Hall in the end zone in a 7-on-7 drill. Hall was running straight down…
