SANTA CLARA — The 49ers just wrapped up Day 7 of training camp. Here’s who stood out.
Keep in mind, rookie running back Jordan James missed his second consecutive practice with a knee injury, which is a big reason why the 49ers signed veteran running back Ameer Abdullah this morning. In addition, Deommodore Lenoir missed his second practice in a row with hip irritation, and Jauan Jennings remains out with a calf injury and has no timetable for his return.
1. Quarterback Brock Purdy
Completed all eight of his pass attempts, threw zero interceptions and hit a 50-yard throw up the left sideline to Demarcus Robinson, who beat Darrell Luter Jr. (more on him in a minute). The pass was slightly underthrown, but Robinson was wide open, so the placement of the ball didn’t matter much. Purdy now has completed deep passes in back-to-back passes — the first one went to rookie Jordan Watkins, who also beat Luter Jr. Keep in mind, both starting cornerbacks and the starting strong safety are currently injured.
2. Quarterback Mac Jones
Completed 10 of 11 pass attempts. His only incompletion was a 50-yard throw up the right sideline to Robinson. Through 7 practices, Jones has completed 80 percent of his passes and thrown just one interception. Not too shabby. Of course, the 49ers’ secondary is terrible, so take Jones’ and Purdy’s practice stats with a large grain of salt.
3. Wide receiver Ricky Pearsall
Practiced after taking the past two days off. The 49ers are working Pearsall into the action slowly because they don’t want him to reinjure himself, so he didn’t participate in 1-on-1 drills (he never has in his entire career), and he ran just 8 routes during 11-on-11 team drills. But he still caught two passes — a 10-yard pass from Purdy near the right sideline, and a spinning catch on a pass from Jones that was thrown behind him. If Pearsall can stay healthy, he’ll be excellent once he gets into football shape.
4. Wide receiver Demarcus Robinson
Taking advantage of Jauan Jennings’ absence and establishing himself as the starting X receiver while Brandon Aiyuk is out. Robinson is significantly faster than Jennings, which makes him a better fit to play X. He also creates more separation than Jennings, who relies on making contested catches. In Kyle Shanahan’s system, Robinson theoretically could put up the same or better numbers than Jennings put up last seaosn if the 49ers feature him. Bad news for Jennings (more on him in a minute).
5. Defensive tackle C.J. West
All of his reps during 1-on-1 drills are violent. He may not win every time, although he wins most times — but win or lose, he creates a huge collision and he almost never loses his balance. I could put him in the good section every day. He’s easily their best rookie right now.
6. Linebacker Nick Martin
Stripped the ball out of rookie wide receiver Junior Bergen’s hands. Then on the next play, Martin dove into Isaac Guerendo and tackled him at the line of scrimmage. Martin seems to have a nose for the football, as opposed to Dee Winters, who’s athletic but easily fooled by the opposing offense.
7. Running back Ameer Abdullah
Practiced with the 49ers for the first time and looked explosive. To be fair to their other running backs, they’re midway through training camp and Abdullah has fresh legs. Still, he’s a proven veteran with lots of experience, and he might need to fill in for a while until Jordan James returns.
1. Wide receiver Jauan Jennings
Missed his third practice in a row with a calf injury. Afterward, I asked head coach Kyle Shanahan if there’s a timetable for Jennings’ return, and Shanahan said, “No.” Which means that Jennings’ injury could be worse than the 49ers are letting on. Keep in mind, last offseason, the 49ers said that Christian McCaffrey had a calf injury, and it turned out that he had bilateral Achilles’ tendonitis instead. I wonder if Jennings has something similar. Regardless, he can forget about getting an extension.
2. Running back Jordan James
Missed his second practice in a row with what the team is calling “knee issues.” He will be reevaluated at the end of the week. Any time a player has a knee issue, that’s not good. And the fact that the 49ers signed a veteran who started three games last year to replace him suggests that he could be out for a while. The 49ers clearly don’t know when he’ll come back, which is unfortunate, because they need him to play this season. He’s replacing Jordan Mason, whom they traded to the Vikings a few months ago.
3. Cornerback Deommodore Lenoir
Has a hip injury that has been nagging him all offseason, according to head coach Kyle Shanahan. The 49ers will keep Lenoir out for at least the next two practices in hopes that his hip will calm down and feel better. That means they expect him to practice on Monday. Keep in mind, the 49ers gave Lenoir a five-year, $88.8 million deal last season. And to afford him, they had to say goodbye to Charvarius Ward, who’s older and more expensive than Lenoir. Unfortunately for the 49ers, Ward is healthy right now, and Lenoir is not.
4. Defensive end Mykel Williams
He returned to practice after sitting out Tuesday with an ankle injury, which is good news. Williams had a high-ankle sprain that affected him all of last season, and it would be troubling if he still hasn’t gotten over it. Today, he seemed healthy. But he lost during one-on-one pass-rush drills to offensive tackle Isaac Alarcon, who will not make the team. Alarcon pushed Williams around on that rep. He is so much better at rushing the quarterback as a defensive tackle than as a defensive end. Still, he hasn’t faced a starter during 1-on-1s yet. Today, he beat fellow rookie guard Connor Colby, who might be the worst guard on the roster.
5. Defensive tackle Alfred Collins
He might be a terrific run defender, but he is an awful pass-rusher at this stage of his career. He’s slow off the snap, he pops straight up and loses his leverage, and he has no pass-rush moves. He just bull rushes directly into the offensive lineman’s chest and generates minimal pocket push. He’s like a slower, less explosive version of Javon Kinlaw. Fortunately for the 49ers, they drafted him in Round 2 instead of Round 1, which means he doesn’t have to be a pass rusher. In addition, they also drafted C.J. West, who is everything they hoped Collins would be.
6. Nickelback Upton Stout
Got beaten by Russell Gage all three times they faced each other during 1-on-1 drills. After the second defeat, defensive coordinator Robert Saleh walked over to Stout and gave him coaching points on the field. Then Stout lost again. He wasn’t particularly close, either. To be fair, Gage is having a terrific camp. But he also missed the past two seasons with a knee injury and might not make the team.
7. Cornerback Darell Luter Jr.
Started in place of Deommodore Lenoir for the second practice in a row, and gave up a deep catch for the second practice in a row. This time, he slowed down as he turned his head to find the ball, when he should have ran through the wide receiver and extended his arm through the receiver’s hands. Now we see why the 49ers don’t play. He’s a liability.
8. The practice refs
They threw a ton of flags during 11-on-11 team drills, which is good. Hold those players accountable. But when it was time for Jake Moody and Greg Joseph to take turn kicking field goals, the refs stood under the uprights, watched the ball fly over their heads and then did not signal whether the kicks were good or not. So I don’t know whether Moody made all four of his attempts. His final one looked like it might have been wide right, but we’ll never know. It’s almost like the 49ers don’t want people to know. They need to put as much pressure on Moody as possible, which means the refs needs to do their job when he kicks the ball. The 49ers also should let the media live-stream his kicks just to take the pressure up a notch.
1. The 49ers’ secondary is a major issue. Today, the ball hit the ground just once when the first- and second-string defenses were on the field.
2. Ben Bartch practiced for the first time during camp. He started at left guard while Nick Zakelj played with the second-stringers. If Bartch stays healthy, he most likely will start over Zakelj. Bartch is simply bigger than him.
3. The 49ers will have their eighth practice tomorrow. Stay tuned.
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