Your daily San Francisco 49ers news for Friday, May 31st, 2024
Why 49ers potentially face difficult decisions at wide receiver
“If they ask me, invest in guys that touch the ball, guys that can touch the ball and score touchdowns,” Foerster said. “And then there’s a range of guys, second, third, fourth round, fifth round even, that we will find starting offensive linemen in.
“The fact that you can throw a short pass to Deebo, even though the right tackle’s getting beat, it ends up being a 60-yard touchdown. So, yeah, the right tackle blocks somebody, but if the guy gets tackled at 5 yards, you don’t have the 60-yard touchdown.”
49ers embracing, experimenting with new kickoffs: ‘It’s a race to figure it out’ (paywall)
“The difference is this year there’s going to be a lot of grappling,” Odum said. “There’s going to be contact with a player each and every play, and you’ll be fighting to get off (the block). So we’ve got to come up with a different technique with how to penetrate fast so everyone can go out and eat.”
The 49ers figure they have one of the key components — the kicker — covered with Jake Moody. They chose him in the third round last year in part because he was accurate on kickoffs, not just with the direction of the kicks but with depth.
Kicks that fall short of the landing zone result in the return team getting the ball at the 40-yard line. Kicks that land in the end zone and aren’t returned come out to the 30. Kicks that hit in the landing zone, roll into the end zone and are not returned come out to the 20. Odum said the ideal kick would drop just shy of the goal line and outside the numbers.”
“I think the tight end room is very new,” Kittle said. “You know, you lose Charlie Woerner and Dwelley to the Falcons. Two guys have done it — Dwelley for six years and Charlie for four years. And so when you lose that consistency, guys who are used to playing, guys who are used to the offense, you know, there is like a gap there that needs to be filled. And Cam has come a long way in his rehab stuff, so the most important thing for him is just to get back on the practice field and he’ll do that during training camp.
“And he’s doing a great job in the meeting rooms. He knows the offense. He’s doing a very good job of just learning and understanding what our goals are. So hopefully he can take everything from that meeting room and apply it to practice, and he goes out there and plays at a high level.”
Willis played 101 snaps on special teams and 48 snaps on offense as a rookie. Kittle said Willis is making noticeable progress but needs to continue to add experience.
“Brayden has gotten way better since last OTA’s, last training camp, last season,” Kittle said. “It’s fun just to see him take these strides. He’s figuring out the run game. He’s a really good route runner, strong hands. So they have all the abilities.
“It’s just what I always try to say is, you can’t replicate reps. You need to go out there. You need to get as many reps as possible. So, you know, Braden got a lot of reps right now is being very beneficial to him.”“I think the tight end room is very new,” Kittle said. “You know, you lose Charlie Woerner and Dwelley to the Falcons. Two guys have done it — Dwelley for six years and Charlie for four years. And so when you lose that consistency, guys who are used to playing, guys who are used to the offense, you know, there is like a gap there that needs to be filled. And Cam has come a long way in his rehab stuff, so the most important thing for him is just to get back on the practice field and he’ll do that during training camp.
“And he’s doing a great job in the meeting rooms. He knows the offense. He’s doing a very good job of just learning and understanding what our goals are. So hopefully he can take everything from that meeting room and apply it to practice, and he goes out there and plays at a high level.”
Willis played 101 snaps on special teams and 48 snaps on offense as a rookie. Kittle said Willis is making noticeable progress but needs to continue to add experience.
“Brayden has gotten way better since last OTA’s, last training camp, last season,” Kittle said. “It’s fun just to see him take these strides. He’s figuring out the run game. He’s a really good route runner, strong hands. So they have all the abilities.
“It’s just what I always try to say is, you can’t replicate reps. You need to go out there. You need to get as many reps as possible. So, you know, Braden got a lot of reps right now is being very beneficial to him.”
49ers not sold on NFL adding an 18th game: ‘I don’t know about that one’ (paywall)
“Yeah, I do,” Floyd said. “That’s another check, right? More games. More checks.”
Why did the 49ers give Jauan Jennings $10.5 million after a 19-catch season? (paywall)
“I think every single person in the NFL that watches tape, every general manager, every scout, anybody that watches tape, they look at Jauan’s film and they’re like, ‘Holy cow, this guy is one of one,’ ” Kittle said. “His mindset and his attitude when he’s on a football field is completely different.
“He goes to that dark place … and he’s just very violent in the way that he plays the game, which you don’t see in all receivers. He will hit defensive ends as hard as he can. He’ll hit linebackers as hard as he can. He’s not scared of anything.”