Your daily San Francisco 49ers links for Saturday, August 21, 2021
There are two more practices the media can watch before the 49ers shut it down. On Friday, we got our first glimpse of Trey Lance with the starters.
I also thought Colton McKivitz had his best day. He had the best block of the day that sprung a long Wayne Gallman run. This comes after a shaky performance from starting right guard Daniel Brunskill.
“Fred was all over the place, as normal,” 49ers defensive coordinator DeMeco Ryans said after the teams wrapped two joint practices in two days. “Just a dynamic player who is always around the ball, always making plays. He’s always attacking the ball and getting the ball out.
At the outset of the 11-on-11 period, Warner delivered a big hit on Chargers running back Austin Ekeler. A short time later, he delivered a thwap to the arm of receiver Jalen Guyton to force a fumble.
And on the next play, Warner delivered another big thud to force a Justin Herbert incomplete pass.
49ers Practice Report: Lance gets a real run with the starters
Hasty, by the way, is an absolute joy to watch. Even when he’s unable to do too much with a run, he is as aggressive a runner as you’ll ever see. His jump cuts are masterful and he has a habit of spinning off tackles. After practice, Kittle expressed his appreciation for Hasty (who I could write about all day, but it’s better if you hear it from Kittle):
“I love Hasty. He gives me a Jeff Wilson vibe,” Kittle said. “He goes kind of into a dark place, and he just runs and runs and he’s violent. He’s explosive. He just has this awesome — I mean his cuts that you guys see, he just jukes people out, but he still has this nice forward lean to him where he’s just always running through contact.
49ers training camp: Fred Warner and ‘annoying as hell defense’ rattle Chargers
Ryans was pleased with the group, which on Friday went through 11-on-11 situations without Nick Bosa, Dee Ford and Javon Kinlaw.
“They’ve had constant pressure, constant knock-backs from our D-line, constantly in the backfield causing havoc,” Ryans said. “And that’s what I expect from our D-line. Because everything with our defense starts with our D-line — them attacking and playing on the other side of the line of scrimmage. And I felt that from them all throughout camp and also the last two days.”
1. Wide receiver Deebo Samuel.
Left practice early with an undisclosed injury. Either he reaggravited the groin pull that kept him out of a couple practices earlier in camp, or he injured something else. Either way, this is the second time he has hurt himself in 17 practices. Not good. Seems like he will continue to injure himself as the season and his career progress. He’s a good player when healthy, but he’s injury prone, which means the 49ers might not keep him past his first contract.
2. Safety Talanoa Hufanga.
I didn’t see much of the defense, but every time I looked across the field to check it out, Hufanga gave up a touchdown in the red zone. I saw him give up two, and I didn’t watch for long. Hufanga replaced Tavon Wilson, who had a veteran’s day off. Seems like Hufanga isn’t ready to start yet.
Latest Jalen Hurd injury puts 49ers in almost impossible spot
“He’s got some knee tendonitis,” Shanahan said. “So instead of going one day off and three on, we just made the decision a couple of days ago to shut him down for the week. We’ll make sure he gets at least seven days off. I think it was five days before that. So, it’s going to be a little over 10 days. Hopefully when we get to Las Vegas week, that’ll be the right answer. I hope he’ll be a little bit better.”
Lack of practice time already put Hurd’s roster status in question, but it may not be as simple as simply cutting ties with him and moving on. The 49ers have a few different options depending on how the next several days play out.
Trey Lance Gets First Extended Playing Time with 49ers Starters
6. While playing with the starters, Lance got sacked. No one was open. Lance should have scrambled.
7. While playing with the starters, on 3rd and 15, Lance ran a quarterback draw and gained 20 yards.
8. While playing with the starters, Lance completed a 15-yard play-action pass to his second read, Deebo Samuel, who ran a curl route. Beautiful pass from the pocket. Lance didn’t linger too long on his first read, and he took what the defense gave him. Mature play.
9. While playing with the starters, Lance completed a 5-yard pass to Sanu, who ran a quick out route to the left.