Here is what stood out from the 49ers eighteenth practice during training camp in Santa Clara.
Trey Lance
After having three interceptions during Monday’s practice, Lance bounced back on Tuesday. During the final practice before heading out to Houston for the preseason finale, Lance completed 9 of 17 passes with one touchdown and one interception.
The best throw of practice saw Lance connect deep down the right sideline with Deebo Samuel.
Lance opened a redzone period completing a pair of short passes to Samuel before hitting George Kittle on an out route from five yards out. Lance showed terrific anticipation on the play and fit it into the tight end who was well covered.
There were a couple of dropped passes, one by Brandon Aiyuk on a short route and one by George Kittle down the middle on a throw that forced him to twist for the ball. Lance also had a couple of inaccurate throws, one coming when he overthrew an open Kittle in the back left corner of the endzone.
The interception came on third and goal from the six. Lance tried to force the ball to Kittle, but linebacker Dre Greenlaw was able to get his hands on it for a takeaway.
Footwork appeared to be a point of emphasis today. Brian Griese spent a lot of time during individual period working with Lance on cleaning up his footwork. Kyle Shanahan did the same after the quarterback was forced to take off on a scramble.
Dre Greenlaw
Greenlaw was all over the field on Tuesday. In addition to the interception, he made several stops against the run game including dropping Jeff Wilson Jr at the line of scrimmage during a move the ball period.
Arik Armstead
Armstead returned to practice fully during Monday’s practice. On Tuesday he dropped Jeff Wilson Jr for a loss of two and helped collapse the pocket around Trey Lance on several occasions.
Samuel Womack
After spending most of his time during training camp working in the slot, Womack is now getting reps on the outside as well. Today he broke quickly on a throw from Lance into the left flat and nearly came away with an interception.
Deommodore Lenoir
After a rough rookie season and slow start to training camp, Lenoir has shown consistent improvement. The second-year corner replaced Ken Crawley with the first team defense. After focusing solely on the outside last season, Lenoir has begun to work in the slot this year as well.
Jason Poe
The undrafted free agent has impressed offensive line coach Chris Foerster enough to earn snaps with the starters.
Although Aaron Banks continues to be the first man up, Poe has shown enough to rotate in. He shows explosiveness with his ability to get to the second level in the run game. As a pass blocker it’s hard to beat him because of the natural leverage he possesses due to his lack of height.
Deebo Samuel
Samuel continues to get steady work as a wideback. Today he was targeted six time, coming away with four receptions including the long pass down the right sideline mentioned earlier.
Outside of the one shot play, Samuel worked primarily underneath routes out of the slot or backfield.
George Kittle
The tight end caught two of four targets, one for a touchdown during a red zone period.
The two incompletions to Kittle should have been big plays. Kittle was open down the middle, but Lance’s pass appeared to be a little behind him and he could no hang on. On the second miss, Kittle had beat his man and was open in the back left corner of the endzone but the throw from Lance sailed too high and glanced off his fingertips.
Roster Moves
The 49ers needed to trim their roster down to 80. To do so they placed cornerback Jason Verrett on the Reserve/Physically Unable to Perform List. Rookie defensive tackle Kalia Davis was placed on the Reserve/Non-Football Injury List. The NFI list is basicially the same as PUP, but because Davis’ injury occurred in college it’s a different designation.
San Francisco also released tight end Tanner Hudson, waived linebacker Jeremiah Gemmel and waived/injured offensive lineman Sam Schlueter.
Good review, Jack. I agree that Poe is a second-string guy starting the season but he has a shot at a starting spot later in the year.
Sorry to see Verett sit for 4 weeks but with luck he comes back at that time. He is one of my favorite players. He is a real leader and so highly talented.
Sermon should be cut but go to the PS. I suspect he has an ankle issue as he really looked awful in the game with MN. Price is up and down and we have yet to see Elijah. Wilson may start against Chicago. Hasty stays as a scat back type. Mason makes the team, obviously and he may be put to good use very quickly. When one considers all the injuries in the running corps, we don’t seem that deep.
Thanks for the report, Jack.
Is Tanner Hudson a candidate for the PS? He has done well enough to earn that distinction but not sure if he qualifies because he is a veteran.
It looks like 3 roster TE’s right now – Kittle, Dwelly and Woerner in this order.
Btw, I like that my TC long-shots Poe and Mason are still in the mix.
AES,
There are 2 P.S. now one for rookies or players who have a few games on the 53. Then there is a smaller P.S. for vets .
Thanks for clearing that up, coach. I wasn’t sure about it.
Maybe Lance is the 2nd coming of J.G in at least one way. He is a crappy practice player, who is able to turn it on once its game time. I coached a few of those in the past but it was basketball and baseball.
Coach,
Hope the same applies to Jauan Jennings, who has struggled in TC.
Add Ambry Thomas to that list.
FOX Sports raises big ? about Lance, says Niners will lose to Bears, and predicts 3-3 start and 9-8 season.
Yeah, starting to get a little concerned about Lance’s accuracy issues. Missing 2 big plays because of bad throws can be the difference between winning and losing. Poe taking reps away from Aaron Banks is also concerning. The 49ers need Banks to be the guy. If Poe is getting reps with the 1s then after 18 practices the 49ers aren’t sure if Banks is the guy or not. That’s not encouraging.
Pat, Maybe they are OK with Banks but think Poe is even better. That would give us a good starter as well as a quality back up. When Brunskill gets back he can concentrate on C and swing T.
I hope you’re right. Having 2 good starter level options at LG would be fantastic. Yet, I still question the wisdom of cutting into Banks snaps. Thru 17 practices Banks was the unquestioned starter. Why diminish his confidence now? Why even go down the path of seeing what you have in Poe if you’re sold on Banks as the starter? It may be just training camp planning and assessment. I just don’t think it’s a great sign that coaches have confidence in Banks.
Banks may have had a reshaped body during OTA’s, but looking at him on the sidelines of the Minnesota game, he looked to have a torso covered by two inches of blubber.
If nothing else, Banks may need a kick in the ass to jump start him..and that kick in the ass is putting a UDFA in with the 1’s, ahead of a high draft choice…but, if that’s the case, he shouldn’t be a starter..
Offensive line has had issues over the years. Most were good in the run but when it came to pass protection eh…not so good. The QB gets judged on how he makes his teammates better, highly unusual when it comes to the team carrying the QB…that’s a hummmmm for me.
After about the fourth or fifth game of the season we shall know what kind of a team this will be. Right now, is too early to draw conclusions.
And my final training camp gripe: The running backs are incomplete without Raheem Mostert or Matt Breida etc. for the outside zone. I don’t think any reporter has asked Lynch if the 9ers even offered Mostert a contract. He only signed with the Dolphins for 4-6 (?) million. Not much for a potentially great season even considering the knee surgery. He probably preferred to be near his family in Florida, but still.
Yoko,
Why do I feel like i’m responding to Mrs. Lennon. I was a huge fan of Mostert (when he played) but I believe the reason the 9ers didn’t resign him is he was constantly injured and it likely was only going to get worse as he got older. imho
umm. Let me guess. Is it because we’re both named Yoko?
As for Mostert’s frailty. Ok. Then why not somebody besides the bruisers we now have? I haven’t seen Hasty excel outside for all his quickness.
No you are right about needing a break away threat. I think KS wants his team to be the most physical team in the league. The same goes for the WR’s other than Gray the rest are very physical.
Kyle was on KNBR this morning and he didn’t sound very confident in the offensive line. Other than Trent Williams it sounds like he has concerns all over the line as well.
Kyle rarely sounds confident in any particular position group, so that doesn’t worry me. What does worry me though, is what my own eyes are telling me from what I’ve seen in the preseason (and one practice) up to this point. Trent Williams is obviously a future Hall of Famer, but he’s the only established OL of the bunch, outside of big Mike McGlinchey, who’s not especially healthy this year. It’s a shame really, because you would think that with a young, inexperienced QB, that OL would have been made a high priority. Hopefully they can figure it out and if they need to make a trade like they did when they traded for Tomlinson right before the start of the 2017 season, then JL better get on it.
Laken, Alex Mack and Trent Williams were all FA acquisitions. Meanwhile Banks and McGlinchey were early round draft picks. Hmmm. We either need to stick to FAs or find a scout who can do a better job of assessing O Line talent.