The second slate of 49ers’ practice finished up on Tuesday. It was San Francisco’s second-straight day in pads, and unlike on Monday, things remained far more even-keeled.
Purdy excels
All four quarterbacks got some run on Tuesday, and Purdy, with the most extended look, shined. He seems like he’s getting a bit more comfortable each day.
Brock Purdy
Purdy took 23 reps and was 8-of-10 with 2 TDs in the red zone. One of those touchdowns may have been a sack, but defining whether a sack happened can be borderline.
The day started off with a false start from George Kittle… then a false start from Trent Williams. It was uncharacteristic and not representative of the rest of the day for the offense. After that, Purdy found Brandon Aiyuk on a well-timed and well-run out route to the right sideline.
On his second set of reps, there was a moment of tension and head shaking that probably helped avoid any fighting like on Monday. Dre Greenlaw tackled Christian McCaffrey hard to the ground, landing on top of him. McCaffrey stood back up and talked to Greenlaw before they eventually gave each other a pat on the back and headed back to their huddles.
Steve Wilks conferred with linebackers coach Johnny Holland and shook his head, heading back to the defensive sideline with instructions to not follow Greenlaw’s lead. New nickel corner Isaiah Oliver said that these practices are more physical than what he had with the Atlanta Falcons thanks to the tone set by Greenlaw and Fred Warner.
After that play, Purdy found Deebo Samuel on a nice crossing route against Talanoa Hufanga. He went back to Samuel on a patented tunnel screen on the next set of reps. He had a would-be incompletion to George Kittle that was negated by a pass interference call.
Purdy’s only truly terrible play of the day was a near interception. He was under pressure, did well to escape it, and then threw across his body on the run towards Christian McCaffrey. Marcelino McCrary-Ball nearly picked it off. It was one of those throws that you’d hope he only attempted because it was practice.
After that, he was great, finding Brandon Aiyuk over the middle against a blitz, and doing the same with George Kittle on a crosser against Hufanga.
From there, the 49ers moved into red zone drills. Purdy found a short completion to Ty Davis-Price, then threw away a ball out of the end zone after thinking about firing to Jauan Jennings, then thinking better of it. He made up for it one play later when he fired a dart to Deebo Samuel, who made the catch against a tackle from Warner.
He finished, after a McCaffrey touchdown run, with a touchdown on a perfectly thrown ball to Jauan Jennings in the back right corner for a touchdown. It took a while to develop and could be argued as a sack, but Jennings eventually came free over the middle then worked towards the pylon against Oliver.
Trey Lance
Lance had 12 reps and was 4-of-6 with a red zone TD.
His day started off, again, with an incompletion due to a Jordan Mason miscommunication. On Monday, Mason didn’t come back to the ball, running a go route when Lance expected him to come back to it.
On Tuesday, Mason didn’t pick up a rusher. The defense blitzed, which meant that there were two free rushers in Javon Kinlaw and Ji’Ayir Brown. Mason released, meaning Lance had to throw the ball away instead of finding Kittle in the flat.
After that, Lance found Aiyuk, and completed a dump screen to Davis-Price.
In his next series, he would have absolutely been sacked from behind by Clelin Ferrell as he tried to escape the pocket, but came back a few plays later with a nice, short completion to Brayden Willis.
His red zone period was reasonably successful. He completed a short touchdown on a naked bootleg to his left to Jack Colletto, and nearly had another touchdown. Lance fired a dart to Ross Dwelley that was directly at his head, and lasered. It wasn’t an easy catch, but Dwelley dropped it clumsily, and George Odum worked over to help break it up. The ball, to Lance’s credit, was certainly on target towards the front right pylon.
Sam Darnold
Darnold took 11 reps, going 2-of-6.
He began with a short completion to Samuel, then a bad incompletion to Dwelley. The pocket closed in on him and he under threw the ball badly by throwing off his back foot. That’s the sort of throw, if a consistent issue, that could make the 49ers lean towards Lance, who’s done a great job of standing tall under pressure in the pocket.
Darnold delivered a well-thrown ball to Tay Martin on an out route after that, but had no success in the red zone.
He had a would-be completion, but Cameron Latu wasn’t looking for the ball. His next throw was a near interception over the middle, with a linebacker driving towards it against Jauan Jennings. His last ball was incomplete towards Davis-Price, broken up by McCrary-Ball. It’s possible Darnold might have been sacked anyway.
Brandon Allen
Allen took 9 reps and was 3-of-3, with a fourth completion to Danny Gray over the middle being negated by a clear sack. He was solid and on target on Tuesday.
Tackle shines in 1-on-1s
One thing that is evident from the one-on-ones in the trenches is that Matt Pryor is a behemoth. He’s listed at 6-foot-7-inches tall and 351 pounds, and that looks about right.
Offensive line coach/run game coordinator Chris Foerster said Pryor came into OTAs overweight, but has since slimmed down a bit to where the 49ers want him. And while there’s not a verdict on his run game work, he is a force as a pass protector.
On Monday, Pryor flung Darryl Johnson — charging hard, and yelling — to the ground with such ease, and in such contrast to Johnson’s verbal efforts, that the entire offensive line group started laughing. On Tuesday, he stonewalled Kerry Hyder Jr. on their first rep, then put him on the ground on the second.
The most enticing reps on paper were between Trent Williams and Drake Jackson. But Williams had a fairly easy time with Jakcson, putting him in the ground on their first rep, and losing on the second. Jackson also got sent wide around the pocket by Colton McKivitz.
There were a few great reps:
- Javon Kinlaw whooping Keith Ismael with an over-arm rip move
- Jon Feliciano stuffing Kevin Givens
- Javon Hargrave demolishing Feliciano
- Ferrell giving Williams a run for his money by going for a strip sack, before being sent wide
Spencer Waege also showed some serious burst and force off the line of scrimmage. It’s hard to imagine him having a shot to make the team, but he’s flashed enough to be of some practice squad intrigue despite Kyle Shanahan having no idea who he was when asked on Sunday.
Other notes: Tight end questions, Jalen Hurd retires
- It’s hard to assess how each tight end is doing as a run blocker, at least with any consistency. There’s far too much going on in any given play, unless you’re watching a run to your side and tracking each rep. But as far as receiving chops go, Brayden Willis has absolutely outshone Cameron Latu. Latu was unprepared for his only target of the day, not even looking for the ball when it came his direction. Willis, meanwhile, has had a few receptions just about every day, and looks much more fluid in his movements.
- Former third-round pick Jalen Hurd (selected 67th overall, after Deebo Samuel) has retired. He had signed recently with the Patriots but was added to the reserve/retired list on Tuesday. He never took an NFL snap, which is a pretty significant note, per Josh Dubow of the Associated Press.