Your daily San Francisco 49ers links for Wednesday, August 18, 2021
The 49ers concluded training camp Tuesday and it was about that time as Mike McGlinchey and Fred Warner got into it a bit. Defensive coordinator DeMeco Ryans explained that the team is ready to hit somebody else after practice:
“Yeah, I think the Chargers practice is coming at the perfect time because we’re at a point in camp where you are just tired of going against each other, tired of going against the same schemes. You know how everybody plays. You know what plays are coming.
So, it’ll be good to just go against different people, different schemes, and just to face different challenges and to see how our guys respond together as a group. So, I’m excited for our guys to go out and practice against the Chargers. And I think it’ll be really good work on both sides.”
49ers training camp: Team waives backup QB Josh Rosen; Nick Bosa gets vaccinated
Through 15 training camp practices, Sudfeld is 32 of 50 (64 percent) in 11-on-11 situations while Rosen is 23 of 42 (54.8 percent), the lowest of the four 49ers quarterbacks. Against the Chiefs, he was 10 of 15 for 93 yards, including a red-zone interception on an overthrow to Travis Benjamin.
Nick Bosa, who was one of the few 49ers who hadn’t received a COVID-19 vaccination when training camp began, has now been vaccinated, according to a league source.
The Good and the Not So Good from Day 15 of 49ers Training Camp
THE GOOD
1. Safety Jimmie Ward.
Broke up a deep pass intended for George Kittle while covering him man to man. Which means Ward turned his head, found the ball and knocked it down. No safety in the NFL covers tight ends better than Ward. Technically, he’s a strong safety when he covers the tight end. And he’ll have more opportunities to play strong safety while Jaquiski Tartt is out.
2. Safety Talanoa Hufanga.
Broke up a deep pass intended for Jauan Jennings while covering the deep middle of the field. Hufanga read the throw early and covered lots of ground. He’s a better free safety than I thought he’d be.
“He was a really good college football player. You could tell how much he enjoys playing the game. How good his hands were, how physical he plays,” Shanahan said. “Didn’t light up the combine or anything, which we mess with him over but that’s his game. I mean, it’s old school and he goes out there and he competes. And he got a late start last year, not having any off season with the pandemic and stuff, but he came on really strong in like Weeks 4 through 8 where we thought he was going to end up helping us a little bit last year and then he had that bad injury. So it’s been nice for him to get back, get healthy and it was good to see him in his first game. That’s how he looked in college.”
Garoppolo threw his eighth interception of camp. He also completed 13 of 19 pass attempts and threw a beautiful 26-yard touchdown pass to Brandon Aiyuk, but the interception outweighs the good stuff he did because interceptions lose games. And Garoppolo throws entirely too many picks for a man of his modest skillset. Today, he got picked off by linebacker Fred Warner for the third time in camp and the second time in the past two days. Garoppolo never saw him. He almost never sees linebackers in coverage and gets picked off by them more often than any quarterback I’ve ever seen. Garoppolo played better in camp last year than this year, which means he’s regressing.
49ers observations: Jimmy Garoppolo keeping Fred Warner happy
Tight end George Kittle had an active day with four receptions. On two passes on which he and Garoppolo did not hook up for completions, safety Jimmie Ward and Warner had perfect coverage.
— The 49ers’ first- and second-team defense won the first move-the-chains periods against units led by Garoppolo and Trey Lance. Both times, the defense forced three-and-outs.
— Garoppolo engineered an eight-play, 70-yard touchdown drive. The big plays were a 15-yard pass to Brandon Aiyuk. They hooked up on the next play for a 26-yard touchdown strike, a play on which Aiyuk made a leaping grab between Dontae Johnson and safety Tavon Wilson.
“No, no hat,” Shanahan revealed shortly after the 49ers’ preseason loss to the Chiefs. “I wore it all the time when we [went to] a Super Bowl. Then it didn’t go as well last year, so I don’t want to have to do anything. So hopefully, we’re not evaluating it each week, but thanks for asking.”