San Francisco 49ers: Notes and Quotes from Week 1 of Training Camp
We’re now three days into San Francisco 49ers’ training camp, and things are beginning to take shape. While the team hasn’t put on pads yet—that takes place for the first time Tuesday—we’re beginning to see how new head coach Jim Tomsula is going to run an NFL squad.
It’s been an optimistic period of time, too, with pretty much everyone looking fairly solid up to this point. Carlos Hyde, Aaron Lynch and Trent Brown were all immediately activated from the non-football injury list (NFI) list and started contributing, and even players like Michael Wilhoite, who remain on the injury list, look to return soon.
Only Daniel Kilgore remains questionable for the majority of training camp among 2015 starters. Unlike last season, no starter is holding out. All things considered, things have been going rather smoothly, compared to this point last season—or, for that matter, the chaos and change that marked this offseason.
Let’s look back at the first three days of training camp and see what’s been going on—who has been standing out, who has been struggling and what challenges the 49ers are facing as they prepare for their first preseason game against the Houston Texans.
Receivers Looking Good
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Torrey Smith is the 49ers’ biggest free-agent acquisition in years, and he’s already showed off some of the things he’s capable of doing. In 11-on-11 drills, Colin Kaepernick and Smith connected on a deep bomb to the end zone and a one-handed, 20-yard grab down the sideline, per Cam Inman of the Bay Area News Group. That was just on day one, as well.
If Kaepernick-to-Smith works out, it will be a major boon for the 49ers offense. Since Smith entered the league in 2011, only DeSean Jackson, Josh Gordon and Malcolm Floyd have averaged more than Smith’s 16.86 yards per reception. The highest-ranking 49er in that time period is Anquan Boldin, in 32nd place, at 13.96 yards per reception. It’s an entirely different dynamic the 49ers haven’t consistently had in years.
Tomsula agreed that Smith looked good, saying, per Inman, that he hoped “to go to Smith, and to Vernon [Davis] and to ‘Alabama’ [DeAndrew White]” this upcoming season.
White, the undrafted free agent out of Alabama, also reportedly has looked good so far. He’s down toward the bottom of the depth chart working against rookies, but he was noted in several camp reports. He’s done well with the second- and third- teams, catching passes in traffic and working as a potential punt returner, per Matt Barrows of the Sacramento Bee.
The punt-returning aspects are particularly noteworthy, because that’s the sort of thing you start looking at when assessing whether someone’s worth making the bottom of a 53-man roster. A fifth or sixth receiver isn’t going to get much playing time, but if the player can contribute on special teams, that’s enough to earn a roster slot.
White is competing with the likes of Quinton Patton, Jerome Simpson and Chuck Jacobs for a bottom-of-the-roster receiver slot, but if he can prove to be a better punt returner than Bruce Ellington, that will go a long way toward earning him a slot on the final 53-man roster.
Speaking of Ellington, he looked explosive on Day 2, flashing speed and playmaking skills against both the first-string and third-teamers, according to Inman. We’ll see what happens when pads go on, but at least the receiving corps is looking good in shorts—better than the alternative for the 49ers, certainly.
Offensive Line in Flux
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Here’s how your offensive line looked for the first two days of camp, per Tyler Emerick of 49ers.com:
- LT Joe Staley
- LG Alex Boone
- C Joe Looney
- RG Marcus Martin
- RT Erik Pears
That’s interesting for a number of reasons.
Staley remains the one rock on the line. When he sat out Monday’s practice, the play of the line plummeted, per Barrows. The 49ers need Staley to stay in the lineup and play at a high level. Alex Boone and Trent Brown got work at left tackle in Staley’s absence.
Boone is moving from the right to the left to replace the departed Mike Iupati. It’s likely an attempt to keep the left side of the line as the 49ers’ strength; a lot of their play design the last few seasons has involved running behind the ferocious twosome of Staley and Iupati over on the left. That makes a lot of sense, rather than spreading the talent over the line. If the right side is significantly weaker, you can design plays and rotate out to take advantage of Boone and Staley on the left.
Barrows noted that Boone also had time as the left tackle on the second string. He’s moved to tackle before in injury situations, but that’s something to keep an eye on.
It’s interesting that, with Daniel Kilgore not practicing due to another procedure on his injured leg, per Maiocco, Joe Looney got the primary snaps at center as opposed to Marcus Martin. That highly indicates that Kilgore is seen as the center, as opposed to it being a competition between him and Martin.
If Martin was in serious consideration for the center role, why not have him take snaps at first-team center now? Kilgore being more or less penciled in is the only way this makes sense.
More noteworthy at guard is the lack of Brandon Thomas, who was working with the second string. He’s long been assumed to be taking over for Iupati at right guard. He’s still recovering from the ACL injury that cost him his entire rookie season, so maybe the team's just taking it slow, but it’s still odd to see. Surely, one of Trent Baalke’s redshirt guys eventually has to work, right?
The right side of the line has struggled so far. NaVorro Bowman beat Marcus Martin badly on Day 1, per Inman, but, to be fair, that might be more about Bowman’s recovery than Martin’s talent level. He did bounce back nicely on Day 2, per Barrows, beating Ian Williams and fighting Arik Armstead to a draw. Pears, on the other hand, has not made a good impression, per Inman:
"Erik Pears lined up as the first-string right tackle, as expected, and didn’t make a sterling first impression. He started off one-on-one drills by getting planted on his backside by Ahmad Brooks. Pears also appeared to false start on a play.
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Don’t fully write off Trent Brown winning the job over Pears before the regular season begins—or Boone, who, as mentioned, is working as a reserve tackle, being moved over to right tackle and Brandon Thomas moving into the starting lineup as a guard. This is very much in flux.
Signs from the Linebackers
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NaVorro Bowman is reportedly looking good, even shedding his knee brace during parts of practice, according to Jennifer Chan. The defense needs Bowman’s veteran presence and explosive presence on the field if they’re going to have defensive success in 2015.
On Saturday, he blew past Marcus Martin on a great spin move, according to Emerick, and in general he has “looked better than he did in the spring,” per Barrows. It sounds like he still has some ground to make up—hence wearing the brace during team exercises—but all signs continue to point to positive progress for the All-Pro linebacker.
Another former All-Pro who has been turning heads is Aldon Smith. He made 49ers.com’s play of the day on Sunday, according to Emerick, ending up on top of Kaepernick before he had a chance to finish his dropback. He was also 49ers.com’s MVP of the day on Saturday, per Emerick, torching reserve linemen and chasing down Kaepernick on multiple occasions. If Smith is back to the form he showed in 2011 and 2012, look out.
It’s not just the All-Pros who were making news, though. Ahmad Brooks looked fit and sharp on the second day of practice, a day the defense won demonstratively, according to Barrows. Eli Harold had a good showing, for a rookie at least, per Barrows, against one of the top tackles in football in Joe Staley. Nick Moody picked off Blaine Gabbert.
All in all, the linebackers, who should be the strength of the team even with losing Patrick Willis and Chris Borland, seem to have looked the sharpest so far.
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The Field Is Terrible
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Last season, the Levi’s Stadium field was a disaster. It was so bad that, at one point, Jim Harbaugh had to take the team off the field, per NFL.com's Gregg Rosenthal. out of worry that someone would get hurt on the divot-filled loose soil.
While no one has gotten hurt yet, the field hasn’t looked pretty over the first stretch of practice. The grass on the outside edges looked particularly torn up, coming up in large chunks during individual drills, per Eric Branch of the San Francisco Chronicle.
It got to the point where Jim Tomsula considered pulling a Harbaugh and pulling practice back to the practice facility.
After the first day of practice, when he was bombarded with questions about the field situation, per Matt Maiocco of CSNBayArea.com, Tomsula said, “We’ll reserve our right to make decisions as we need to. They’re going to roll it and work it all night, but we’re not going to come out if it’s not good. We’re not going to put them at risk."
It got bad enough that Monday’s practice was moved to the practice facility to give the field time to recover, per Chris Biderman of Scout.com. Barrows confirmed that the plan is now to rotate the field with the 49ers' two usual practice fields to give it more time to recover.
Thanks to the busy schedule Levi’s Stadium will face this season—not only Super Bowl 50, but also Taylor Swift and Luke Bryan concerts—the 49ers plan to resod the field "seven or eight times prior to Super Bowl 50," per Maiocco.
Honestly, at this point, it might make the most sense to go to an artificial surface eventually—if the team can’t provide its players a safe field, it risks someone having a career-altering knee injury like Robert Griffin on Washington’s poor turf in the 2012 playoffs.
Cornerback Battle Shaking Out
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Tramaine Brock missed most of 2014 with a variety of injuries, and his return to form is a key part of San Francisco’s secondary plan in 2015.
So far, so good, at least. Brock has made a couple of the bigger highlight plays in camp so far, coming down with two interceptions against the first string in two consecutive days, according to Barrows.
In 2013, Brock was the 14th-highest rated cornerback, according to PFF. That would replace losing Chris Culliver, who ranked 15th last season. The 49ers need him to return to form after losing Culliver and Perrish Cox this offseason.
The returning 49er who scored the highest in PFF’s cornerback grades last season, Dontae Johnson, also has been making some waves. While Shareece Wright is getting the reps as the second starting cornerback, as reported by David Fucillo of Niners Nation, Johnson has been getting plenty of time as the nickel cornerback, as Jimmie Ward still isn’t participating in team drills. At the moment, Brock is sliding into the nickel role, and Johnson is coming in to play an outside corner position, according to Barrows.
While Wright’s been getting no press other than simply holding down a starting role, Bleacher Report's Grant Cohn called Johnson a “standout” so far. Could he keep the nickel job, even when Jimmie Ward comes back? Could he win the second starting job when Ward comes back, moving Wright to the bench? That’s a battle to watch, but it’s nice to see the cornerback position beginning to clear up.
Training-camp highlights provided by 49ers.com, unless noted otherwise.
Bryan Knowles is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report, covering the San Francisco 49ers. Follow him @BryKno on Twitter.
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