© Stan Szeto-USA TODAY Sports
SANTA CLARA – It finally happened, and it wasn’t Jimmy Garoppolo’s fault. On Tuesday, Garoppolo threw his first interception of training camp on a pass which should have been caught and Nick Mullens almost led a perfect drive, which was spoiled by another drop.
The quarterback report
Garoppolo: 9-for-13, 1 INT, 2 dropped passes, 1 sure sack on a completion (Nick Bosa)
This was a pretty impressive day from Garoppolo, who would have been 11-for-13 with no interceptions if not for a pair of drops (one of which came with pressure from DeForest Buckner and Nick Bosa). He almost hit Kendrick Bourne on back-to-back plays (the first was a nice avoidance of Bosa, who was screaming around the edge), and went for first down yardage. The second would have been a 20-plus-yard connection, but Bourne dropped it and left it for Ahkello Witherspoon on an easy interception, and Garoppolo’s first of camp.
Another one of his incompletions came when George Kittle slipped, although the throw appeared behind him. His worst pass followed on a bad throw to Marquise Goodwin. Other than that, Garoppolo completed the rest of his passes, many of which were short, move-the-chains throws (a pair of which went to Trent Taylor).
C.J. Beathard: 7-for-9, 1 pass swatted at the line (Sheldon Day)
Aside from a ball swatted at the line, Beathard had just one other incompletion, on a ball overthrown out of bounds to Jordan Matthews. He had a good day, but nothing remarkable, which at this point, it probably what you would hope for from Beathard. He was for the most part, mistake-free.
Nick Mullens: 5-for-9, 1 TD, 2 drops (Ross Dwelley, Deebo Samuel), 1 would-be TD (Samuel)
Mullens was robbed of the first two-touchdown pass day from non-red zone situations. His first pass was a deep bomb to Trent Taylor that was almost unbelievably uncovered. Taylor caught the ball, which was underthrown by a bit, in the middle of the field with not one player within 10 yards of him. It was a clear miscommunication between safeties Adrian Colbert and Marcell Harris.
He had one incompletion to Marquise Goodwin, which was not a good throw and fed Richie James Jr. for his only catch of the day. He had his second incompletion dropped by a wide open Dwelley, before going on another long drive like he did on Saturday.
Mullens hit Jalen Hurd for a first down on two consecutive passes (separated by a pair of runs), then connected with Deebo Samuel for a first down before Samuel, who had beaten cornerback Dontae Johnson badly, dropped a sure touchdown in the end zone. His last incompletion came on a nice pass breakup by Tyree Robinson.
Hurd has best day yet, Deebo Samuel sees highs and lows
Consider this your wide receiver report for the day. Below is a chart of the targets and receptions for every receiver today (not including swatted passes at the line) in 11-on-11 drills:
(Graphic by Jake Hutchinson)
Kittle dropped a pass from Garoppolo, fumbled on another catch and recovered it (the second-straight practice in which that’s happened), and slipped on his second incompletion with Garoppolo,
Meanwhile, Jalen Hurd was moving the chains and had the most effective day of any wide receiver, catching all four of his passes, two of which went for first down yardage. An interesting note on Hurd’s day; he was slotted up against Richard Sherman twice on fade routes in 1-on-1 catching drills in the end zone, and Sherman shut down Hurd both times.
Taylor probably had the best day of any receiver, catching a deep touchdown from Nick Mullens on what was discernibly a busted coverage between safeties Adrian Colbert and Marcell Harris. He was free over the middle of the field by a massive margin. He also had a first down catch from Garoppolo and caught the last pass of the day.
Deebo Samuel had what looked to be a great day, beating LaRoy Reynolds on a good catch, catching one pass for a first down, and then, on the very next play, beat corner Dontae Johnson badly in the end zone, but dropped the touchdown, which would have been Mullens’ second of the day.
Both Matt Breida and Kyle Juszczyk caught two unspectacular short passes each (screens to Breida, dumps to Juszczyk), with Juszczyk getting leveled by Dre Greenlaw, who immediately made sure Juszczyk was alright, and reaffirmed that after practice, saying he was worried he’d hurt the starting fullback.
The only other players with decent days in 11-on-11s were Matthews and James Jr., who both caught a fairly deep pass each. Bourne was great in 1-on-1s, but made a massive mistake in not bringing home a great pass from Garoppolo (on a roll out to his left, the one play in which he’s struggled so far). It tipped off his hands and was intercepted easily by Witherspoon for a big return.
As for the rest, Ross Dwelley ran two great routes, but dropped a pass on one of them (the other was a 25-plus-yard connection, the drop would have been a first down), Marquise Goodwin had two incomplete targets, one which came on a poor throw that he probably should’ve hauled in, Dante Pettis caught one pass, but had it immediately stripped for a fumble-turnover by Greg Mabin, and Tyree Mayfield had no chance to haul in his one target of the day.
Bosa active again
Nick Bosa looked very good yet again on Tuesday. There were four times (noted, at least) in which Bosa had pressure on the quarterback, with one occasion, on the second-to-last play of the day (a short Garoppolo completion to Taylor) in which there was a sure sack. However, for the defensive line as a whole there were two offsides calls and one neutral zone infraction which negated a massive tackle in the backfield by Arik Armstead. Pre-snap penalties were something the defense and offense struggled with today, something head coach Kyle Shanahan addressed after practice on Tuesday.
“I mean it’s a huge problem and we’ve got to always harp on it,” Shanahan said. “It’s very easy to say, hey let’s just stop motioning and do everything and make it easier. That’s really not what we believe in though. We try to do a lot of stuff schematically which puts a lot of pressure on all five eligibles, it puts pressure on the quarterback and how he’s got to have command of that. That’s something that I think we need to coach better and something our players need to have better command at and do more. I saw too much of it today and luckily it’s not the finished product yet, but that’s something we’ve really got to harp on.”