Your daily San Francisco 49ers links for Thursday, August 5, 2021
The 49ers have Thursday off from practice before they return to the field Friday, and scrimmage on 8/7 for Dwight Clark Day.
Wednesday’s practice was cool as each staff member, from Kyle Shanahan to the guys shagging punts, had 47 shirts on celebrating John Lynch being inducted to the Hall of Fame. Lynch didn’t find out until practice started.
McDaniel said there was some refinement required in his transition to the 49ers’ scheme.
“He’s doing a good job really attacking the technique that we ask our linemen to do,” McDaniel said. “A lot of the stuff that we ask them to do is a little different than they’re used to. So he’s attacking it. But with that, you’ll jump off side sometimes. You’ll be a little sloppy in your technique because you’re not used to. He can’t turn his brain off right now before he goes and plays. So that’s something that we’re not really concerned about at all. It’s a natural progression that all players really go through.”
Jimmy Garoppolo has perfect response for Fred Warner interceptions
During training camp, Warner has twice intercepted passes from the 49ers quarterback, but Jimmy G had the perfect response to ensure this was all part of the process.
“I mean, Fred got $95 million, so you got to keep him happy somehow, you know,” Garoppolo told the media after Tuesday’s practice.
Warner’s leadership was part of why the 49ers extended him, and the hard work — which means getting the better of Jimmy G sometimes — also played a huge role.
On Tuesday, starting linebacker Dre Greenlaw wrote on Instagram that Lance has the “best arm I’ve ever seen hands down.”
3. Completed a 15-yard pass over the middle to Brandon Aiyuk running a dig route from left to right. Great job hitting a moving target in stride.
4. Threw an incomplete deep pass to George Kittle up the right sideline. Kittle was open — he had a couple steps on rookie safety Talanoa Hufanga — but Lance underthrew the pass. This caused Kittle to slow down, which caused Hufanga to run into him. Looked like defensive pass interference. Either way, bad throw.
5. Completed a 45-yard pass to Ross Dwelley streaking up the right sideline. This pass was a rope.
The Chiefs also took care to ensure Mahomes had the type of patient but competitive personality that would allow him to fit in and push Smith without making waves.
Upon arrival, Mahomes and Smith began building a relationship organically. Neither player forced anything but they put themselves in competitive situations as often as possible. The idea was to foster a fun atmosphere that would lead to natural battles on the field but with any sort of overzealous elements already removed from the relationship.
49ers Practice Report: Lance gets one with the ones, shines again
Comparing Lance to the New Orleans Saints’ Taysom Hill will cause people to cringe, and rightfully so, given the nonsensical way the Saints have paid Hill and the narrative around him. Oh, he also can’t throw the ball very well, or at all, which is not a concern with Lance.
But there is a realm in which the 49ers don’t start Lance immediately and they could employ a similar method of throwing Lance in the game on designed zone-read packages, or give him run-pass options. I’d argue he’s already capable of much more than that and the 49ers are well aware of that, but if they feel Garoppolo is playing well and perhaps Lance doesn’t have a full or completely comfortable grasp of the playbook, that’s an avenue in which they could use his absurd athleticism and instinct in reading defenders.
In the past two days of practices, Lance completed 21 of 23 pass attempts. He also has a lot of responsibilities in the 49ers’ run game.
Lance has also appeared to correct some issues to improve his accuracy. McDaniel said the coaching staff asked him to focus on specific areas of his mechanics during the 40 days from the end of organized team activities to the opening of training camp.