Your daily San Francisco 49ers news for Thursday, July 24th, 2025
Unique kicker battle takes center stage on Day 1 of 49ers training camp
“On the first snap of the 49ers’ 11-on-11 period, quarterback Brock Purdy delivered a dart deep down the right side to tight end George Kittle.
The pass might have taken the 49ers’ defense by surprise. And it certainly caught cornerback Deommodore Lenoir in a blown assignment, according to Kittle. Lenoir went with Jennings underneath, which left Kittle wide open further down the field.
Purdy’s next two pass attempts were intercepted. He attempted a deep pass for wide receiver Demarcus Robinson, which fluttered far short of its intended mark. Safety Jason Pinnock made a diving interception.
On Purdy’s next pass attempt, linebacker Dee Winters undercut an inside route and came up with the takeaway on what would have been a pick-six. Shanahan said Purdy got too aggressive with the throw.
Purdy ended up completing seven of his 10 attempts during the non-padded practice.”
49ers’ big — and big-bodied — rookie D-lineman draw a crowd at training camp (paywall)
“Along with fourth-round pick C.J. West, the rookies helped create an impressive visual that prompted the team’s top scout, vice president of player personnel Tariq Ahmad, as well as assistant head coach Gus Bradley to stroll over and watch the defensive line go through individual drills. The only lineman who wasn’t present was Yetur Gross-Matos, who’s recovering from a knee issue.
“I like the group. I think they have a lot of talent,” Bosa said. “I think when you look at them, you see NFL bodies out there that look impressive, which is a good thing.”
A year ago, Bosa had two linemates — Hargrave and Leonard Floyd — who were in their 30s and another, Maliek Collins, who was 29. Now Bosa, 27, is the elder statesman of the group.
“We’re young,” he said. “But just because nobody knows them now, if they play good a couple of games, then the whole world knows them. So it’s pretty exciting.”
Rookies helped 49ers get to Super Bowl six years ago. Can they do it again? (paywall)
“They aren’t going to figure it out right away,” Shanahan said. “You can’t just bench them as soon as they make a mistake early. That does take reps.
“You hope as they get those reps, they’re not catastrophic because we’re all judged on wins and losses. But there’s some ebbs and flows in it, and if you’re made of the right stuff, you can overcome those mistakes.”
As a high draft pick himself, Bosa — selected No. 2 overall in 2019 — can especially relate to the position Williams is in. San Francisco went 4-12 the year before drafting Bosa, who entered the league amid extremely high expectations. Williams was drafted at No. 11 overall after the 49ers missed the postseason for the first time in four years.
Bosa’s best advice: “The only thing that makes you really feel good is going out there and contributing and playing good because then all those negative thoughts of whether you’re going to pan out, kind of just go away.
“I think Mykel does a really good job of that. He doesn’t seem stressed at all.”
‘It’s a different window’: Kyle Shanahan on 49ers’ past, present, and start of a new cycle (paywall)
“On the eve of the first practice of training camp, he seemed refreshed, lively, light-hearted, and definitely optimistic.
No, he was not in Dark Kyle mode. At least not anymore.
And yes, after last season’s collapse and the longest, dreariest 49ers offseason in years, Shanahan outlined the pain of watching so many valued veterans leave the team but also sounded legitimately (and a bit uncharacteristically) cheery about the team’s present and future now that the cutting is done.
“We’ve known this was coming for a while,” Shanahan told me on my podcast Tuesday afternoon. “You know, the time that it hit me the most was, like, halfway through the year in 2023 (during that Super Bowl run) … there was a lot of issues coming up on the horizon that you could see possibly in ’24 and ’25 — especially any time you have a quarterback in a rookie deal that allows you to have all these guys. But you knew that was ending, so there had been some stress about that for a while.”
Kyle Shanahan provides updates after 49ers’ first training camp practice
“San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan spoke to reporters on Wednesday, after the team’s first practice of training camp. Here is everything he had to say.”