Your daily San Francisco 49ers news for Thursday, June 12th, 2025
“San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh addressed reporters following the team’s final practice of mandatory minicamp. Here’s everything he had to say.”
Can running back Corey Kiner follow blueprint of 49ers’ undrafted success stories? (paywall)
“Turner, 75, the NFL’s oldest position coach, does exhaustive research on college prospects. And the old-school taskmaster evidently found a kindred spirit in Kiner during their pre-draft conversations. Kiner said his football mentality was shaped by his father, Clifton, who served in the Army and instilled discipline that included a belief that “if you’re early you’re on time.”
Kiner began showing up early for practice when he was at Roger Bacon High School in suburban Cincinnati to run laps and do ladder drills, pushups and situps. He said he’s been among the first to hit the field with the 49ers.
“A lot of people have problems and (Turner) doesn’t care about the problems,” Kiner said. “His thing is to get up and go to work every day. Sometimes you need that. I feel like today you can get caught up in ‘I’m not feeling good. I deserve this. I deserve that.’ Coach Bobby T.’s approach to everything is ‘I don’t care what I deserve.’ I’m going to get up and go to work every day.”
49ers believe Bryce Huff, ‘speed demon’ with an undrafted motor, can be next Dee Ford (paywall)
“Prior to Bryce Huff’s 10-sack breakthrough with the New York Jets in 2023, he played well into fourth quarters during the preseason. In 2022, the Jets added multiple free agents and rookies at his position. And ahead of the 2021 season, Huff added 20-plus pounds of muscle just to secure his roster spot as a defensive end after entering the league in 2020 as a linebacker.
Robert Saleh, his head coach and defensive coordinator in New York, never saw Huff discouraged. He gladly played every preseason snap he could get in Year 4 as if he were still an undrafted rookie, noting: “If (Saleh) thinks I need to get these reps, I’m going to go out there and get these reps. I just keep it pushing.”
Kawakami: Trent Williams is the 49ers’ 2025 outlier — and most irreplaceable presence (paywall)
‘Williams currently has zero money guaranteed for next season. (He held out through training camp last year to get a guarantee for this season.) He’s definitely not in his prime. But he’s unique because even if he’s not at his best, he’s by far the 49ers’ best option at an extremely vital position. And to underline that, the 49ers once again didn’t draft a tackle this year — they haven’t drafted a tackle since they took Jaylon Moore in the fifth round in 2021, and they just lost Moore to free agency in March.
Teams show what they’re thinking by their actions — or, in this case, in the 49ers’ lack of action at left tackle. They’ve looked at resetting almost every part of the roster, but they’re still banking on Williams like they banked on him since they acquired him from Washington in an amazing trade in April 2020.”
“In his first media availability as a Niner after the fact, he admitted to being “a little bit shaky” while “drinking from a (fire) hose.”
The former first-round pick found himself on his third team in three offseasons when he signed with the 49ers in March. It was also the first time Jones as a free agent had the freedom to pick where he wanted to play. The Patriots traded the Alabama alum three seasons after selecting him No. 15 overall in the 2021 NFL Draft — before the end of his rookie deal — to the Jaguars, where his confidence seemed to only worsen with the subpar play he stumbled into after being pressed into action for a concussed Trevor Lawrence last season.
Jones said he has carried the “scars” which marked his fall from grace with him to Santa Clara, a place for him to reset.
Tuesday may have been one of his cleanest practices to date. His back-shoulder pass to Demarcus Robinson for an explosive gain was an encouraging highlight for a quarterback who admitted some of his past tape revealed a timidity that held him back.
“Sometimes, when you watch my film, maybe it wasn’t a full commitment throw,” Jones said. “I want to get better at that, and I have when I’ve been out there. That’s the whole point of football is to try those throws, learn from them, and then when you get to the game, you can say, ‘Hey, I can do this,’ or, ‘I’m going to check this one down.’
“I learned the hard way.”
After painful season, 49ers’ Trent Williams sees playing into 2026 and beyond (paywall)
“Williams was asked Tuesday how he summoned the necessary enthusiasm for a 15th NFL season. He indicated the process wasn’t easy, terming it a “good question,” before he referenced the adversity he overcame earlier in his career.”
“Attended practice but didn’t watch it. Instead, he stood next to the weight room and listened to a long, passionate speech from Terrell Owens. Frank Gore and Patrick Willis also listened. So that was one Hall of Famer lecturing the highest-paid wide receiver in franchise history while two other Hall of Famers listened respectfully. I have no idea what they were talking about, but I do know that Aiyuk has been a bit disgruntled for the past year, and Owens is arguably the biggest diva wide receiver of all time. If he’s now the voice of reason for Aiyuk, what an irony that would be. To Aiyuk’s credit, he listened intently.”