The second preseason game looms just around the corner, and the 49ers ramped up to their longest practice of training camp Wednesday, with no resolution yet to their two star absentees.
49ers climb the "mountain"
This was the 49ers' longest practice of training camp, with an eye towards Saturday's preseason matchup with the New Orleans Saints. Kyle Shanahan said he would decide how much, if at all, the starters play depending on this block's practice. He called this longest practice the "mountain."
So, how did that climb go? The defense still got the better of the offense, for the most part. But Brock Purdy looked far more crisp Thursday than he did Wednesday.
Purdy was under pressure often, and threw quickly, on target, and with enough pace on the ball to have positive plays.
Collins was constantly around the ball in team period, as were both Warner and Winters. Those two were relentless around the ball. Warner wagged his finger at Purdy and the offense after blanketing Kyle Juszczyk down the sideline in coverage.
On offense, Kittle and Deebo Samuel received darts from Purdy. Kittle pulled away from Warner for a catch and went laughing to the sideline afterwards. But the other standouts on offense were Jordan Mason, Jacob Cowing and Jake Tonges.
Mason ran well, juked away from a tackle, and made a nice, leaping grab. Cowing had a handful of catches. Meanwhile, Tonges is proving himself extremely reliable and well-rounded. He may be hard to keep off the roster.
It should be noted that Brandon Aiyuk (for the second day in a row) and Ricky Pearsall were both watching from the sideline. Pearsall did rehab work, as did Christian McCaffrey, who was ramping up substantially on the other side of the field from team work.
What's the plan at center, and how rookie OLs are doing
One glaring question for the 49ers is who their backup center is. It's important because of how much San Francisco puts on its centers and because its backup options are poor.
Neither Ben Bartch nor Nick Zakelj nor Drake Nugent have put in impressive performances. But at least one of those guys probably has to make the roster as a backup.
Offensive lineup/run game coordinator Chris Foerster broke down the hierarchy, giving Zakelj the edge:
“Well, right now, you have [OL Ben] Bartch and [OL Nick] Zakelj that are battling it out with [OL Drake] Nugent there as well," Foerster said. "You got three guys there that can do it and that will work the backup, and we'll see how it plays out as the year goes on. Zakelj, obviously, took the starting reps. I would say that if you looked at them and said, what Zakelj’s strengths and what Bartch’s are, I think that Zakelj’s probably playing a little bit better. Center suited him better and guard probably suits Bartch better. Not that either one of them has played center. That's the first game Zakelj’s ever played, in a game, center – in college, anywhere.
"So, I give him the edge right now, but they're both right there. Because then if you move Zakelj to guard, Bartch to center, it just depends on what you're looking at. You look at it and say, okay, one of those guys will be your third or fourth guard, backup center. It's just, it's a lot of pieces we're moving there. That's where it sits right now.”
Foerster was also asked about the 49ers' two rookie offensive linemen in Dominick Puni and Jarrett Kingston.
He described Puni as being a "pretty consistent performer." He did indicate he needs to work on pulling as a guard, amongst other things.
As for Kingston, he had a bit more excitement.
“He’s getting better all the time. He's improving," Foerster said. "What I love about these young guys, John Lynch and I were talking about this morning is these guys are really working hard to improve and they've made some good strides. It's a tribute to them, not to me. We just do what we do. We go out there and do the same thing every day. But these guys have grabbed onto it and he has gotten better.
"The things that we saw that were limitations with him we felt were fixable. And so he's been able to fix some of them. It's still not consistent but it's gotten better. So there were things that get addressed and we addressed them and he's addressed them, which is good. Sometimes it's hard to break a habit and we've talked about it in here before where in a game, when you start creating bad habits, they're hard to break. And these guys over the course of their college career have some bad habits that you have to break and the things he had wrong, he's really fixed. And so that's helped elevate his game every week.”
Cornerback workouts
The 49ers worked out four defensive backs after practice Wednesday:
- Rashad Fenton
- Josh Jackson
- Kevon Seymour
- Joejuan Williams
Corner is one of the stronger spots on the roster, but Isaac Yiadom has been out more than a week and will be out a couple more, and there are definite reps available with the third team.