Your daily San Francisco 49ers links for Wednesday, July 28, 2021
Tuesday was eventful as the 49ers made a few roster moves and updated us about some critical players on the roster. We still wait for Trey Lance to sign his contract, but I don’t think anyone is too worried about that.
Today, the team takes the field through Saturday, which means we’ll have football to talk about. I”m excited, and you should be too.
Nick Bosa will begin 49ers camp quicker than he was before his knee injury
The 49ers defensive end is still approximately 265 pounds, his weight when the 49ers drafted him No. 2 overall two years ago, but there’s more lean muscle — perhaps an additional five pounds worth — and less fat, which is evident in his appearance.
Nearly everything Bosa and his older brother, Chargers defensive end Joey, do in the offseason — 10-yard bursts, shuttle runs, etc. — are timed. And in the last few weeks Nick Bosa’s times have been faster than they’ve been in the past, Bosa confirmed through a team spokesman.
“It really speaks to our players,” he said. “We didn’t force anything. What we tried to do is just communicate with our guys and line up professionals to educate them as much as possible.
“Our guys really arrived at this individually and as a team, and we’re proud of them for that.”
Vaccinated players who test positive and are asymptomatic can return to work after two negative tests 24 hours apart. Non-vaccinated individuals who test positive will still require 10 days of self-isolation.
Individuals who are not vaccinated must still wear masks at the facility and are subject to physical distancing protocols.
49ers training camp: Interior defensive line depth is giving the team ‘vibes of 2019’
I think they fit in with our defensive line group perfectly,” Jones said. “They’re dogs deep down. Mo and Zach are one and the same, just like me. We’re trench warriors. There’s a difference between being able to play D-line and being able to handle the trenches. They know how to maneuver in the trenches.
“It’s a place where you can get hurt, where you can hurt people. Putting hands on people. Those guys know how to play with their hands, how to bat balls down. They know how to work feet, how to work a double team. It’s not a beautiful place. I think it’s one of the dirtiest jobs as a professional.”
Regardless of how the quarterback situation plays out, the 49ers sound like a team with big plans for 2021. Injuries ravaged the roster in 2020, leaving them at 6-10 just one season removed from the Super Bowl.
Those expectations remain no matter who is under center, according to tight end George Kittle.
“The goal is to win the Super Bowl,” Kittle said. “I know that John and Kyle are going to put whoever they think is best at the helm, and I know that Jimmy is a hell of a quarterback. I’ve said that for the last three years, and I’ve defended Jimmy. Everyone always questions all of his attributes and how good of a football player he is, which still confuses me because I think he’s a hell of a football player, and I’m excited to see what Trey does out there.
49ers Notebook: Quarterback non-competition, Trey Lance’s contract and injury roundup
And hey, maybe Ford does come back this season and looks like the player he once was. But from Lynch’s update, that assessment sounds a little premature. Lynch said that Ford, Nick Bosa and Jalen Hurd, who all sustained season-ending injuries last season, will avoid the physically unable to perform list and will start training camp with individual drills.
Lynch said that Ford did not need an additional procedure last year for his back injury, but that the 49ers remain cautious in their approach with him.
That sounds like a much fairer assessment of a nebulous back injury for a man who underwent a lumbar discectomy to repair discs in his back, and who missed all of last season. There have been questions about whether Ford would retire, so any expectation that he’d immediately be at or close to 100 percent seems premature.
49ers’ Kyle Shanahan on his viral pizza oven throw: ‘My best athletic moment of my life’
“Well, since you asked, I’ll describe it all,” Shanahan said as general manager John Lynch laughed next to him. “We were just messing around. It was the Fourth of July, and we were up there. We were on my buddy’s rooftop, and we had a football, and I was just felt like I could throw at the time.
“I was asking everyone where they wanted me to throw it, and they said, ‘That pizza over right over there.’ And I go, ‘I’m going to hit this. Film this.’ And they go, ‘Yeah, right.’ But I hit it somehow. I won one of my buddy’s golf clubs off of him. It was awesome.
“We were going to take the whole thing down — the pizza oven — but now we’re keeping it up, as like a monument. And I will never attempt it again. I’ll just be one-for-one.”