SANTA CLARA — The 49ers made 10 roster moves today. They placed Cornellius Carradine, Quinton Dial, Marcus Lattimore, Luke Marquardt and Eric Wright on the Non-Football Injury List. The 49ers placed Michael Crabtree and Mario Manningham on the Reserve/PUP List. The 49ers placed Chris Culliver on the Injured Reserve List, and the 49ers cut Lamar Divens and Lawrence Okoye. The 49ers currently carry 74 players on their roster. The Niners…
SANTA CLARA – Jim Harbaugh spoke in the media tent Sunday morning. Here’s what he said. Q: What is the complexion of practices these final two weeks of the exhibition season? Will you still do some ones against ones, or will it be mostly scout team work? HARBAUGH: It will not change very much. It will still be one versus one, two versus two, one versus two, two versus one,…
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…
We know Colin Kaepernick is a rising star at quarterback, and we know the 49ers have one of the best offensive lines in football. Let’s take stock of the 49ers’ offensive skill players – wide receivers, tight ends and running backs – now that they’ve lost Delanie Walker and Randy Moss, and Michael Crabtree and Mario Manningham are injured. I count 18 teams having better offensive skill players than the…
It’s worth noting that Vernon Davis participated exclusively with the wide receivers, not the tight ends, during the 49ers’ past mini-camp. Do you think that means Davis will play more wide receiver this year? The Niners probably need him to play more wide out because their best receiver, Anquan Boldin, is a much better slot receiver than outside receiver at this stage in his career. During team drills, Boldin lined…
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’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…
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…
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,…
There’s been a great deal of debate over how big of a loss of Michael Crabtree is to the 49ers. Some people say the loss is no big deal, others say it’s quite a big deal. To inform the debate, let’s look closely at Crabtree’s 2012 stats. Michael Crabtree Catches: 85 (tied for 13th best in the NFL) Yards: 1,105 (14th) Touchdowns: 9 (tied for 11th) Deep catches (passes traveling…
This upcoming season, the 49ers arguably will have the slowest base offense in the NFL. I’m talking 21 personnel – Frank Gore at tail back, Bruce Miller at fullback, Vernon Davis at tight end, Michael Crabtree at flanker and Anquan Boldin at split end. When those players are on the field for the 49ers, their fastest players are the tight end and the quarterback. If the 49ers want more speed,…
In my humble opinion, you’re doing pretty well so far this offseason, Trent. I’m not going to give you a final grade today. That wouldn’t be fair. You still have the draft in a few weeks, and that’s when you need to perform your best. You have 14 picks. You may feel this year’s rookies will be better and cheaper long term than what’s available on the free agent market,…
Mario Manningham, who tore his ACL and PCL on December 23rd, just agreed to a $1.8 million pay cut in 2013 to stay with the 49ers. He signed a two-year contract last offseason, and he was set to earn $3.6 million next season. But he probably will not be able to participate in training camp and he may not be ready to play when the season starts and who knows…
The 49ers have four picks in the first three rounds of the upcoming draft: The 31st, the 61st, the 74th and the 93rd pick. How would you like the 49ers to use those picks? Should they package them or some of them in a trade for an elite player, like Jets’ cornerback Darrelle Revis? Or should they package the picks to trade up in the draft? Or should they stand…
The 49ers just announced they’ve moved Mario Manningham to the injured reserve and replaced him on the 53-man roster with rookie undrafted defensive tackle, Tony Jerod-Eddie. The 49ers could be missing as many as three defensive tackles against the Cardinals on Sunday. Justin Smith has a partially torn triceps, Will Tukuafu has an injured neck and Demarcus Dobbs is out for the year with a knee injury. Jerod-Eddie (6-5, 301…
This is the transcript of Jim Harbaugh’s Wednesday press conference, courtesy of the 49ers. How was your Christmas? “Happy Holidays. Yeah, warmest holiday wishes to everybody. Yeah, excited to be back. Big week for us. And looking forward to a great week of preparation.” Can you give us any update on WR Mario Manningham? His status? “Yeah, he’s not going to be available the rest of the way.”…
As you all have probably heard, Mario Manningham tore the ACL and PCL in left knee against the Seahawks and he’s out for the rest of the season. The 49ers now have lost their No.2 and No.3 wide receivers (Kyle Williams tore up his knee against the Saints). The remaining wide receivers on the 53-man roster are Michael Crabtree, Randy Moss, Ted Ginn Jr. and A.J. Jenkins. How do you…
This is the transcript of Jim Harbaugh’s Monday press conference, courtesy of the 49ers. I did not attend this press conference. I was flying home from Seattle when Harbaugh was speaking. Did you guys get away with the run game too early yesterday? “Like we said last night, we didn’t do really enough good things. Only one thing you can do after a battle, win or lose, and that’s…
SEATTLE, Wa. – The Seahawks crushed the 49ers 42-13 Sunday night. Here are the grades for the offense. Offensive line: F. Even though this group only gave up one sack, they gave up pressure the whole game. Kaepernick was running for his life and he took some big hits after throws. In the fourth quarter, Anthony Davis lost his cool and took two cheap shots on 190-pound cornerback Jeremy Lane,…
