Your daily San Francisco 49ers news for Wednesday, April 26th, 2023
Christian McCaffrey glows about his new 49ers teammate, Sam Darnold (paywall)
“When McCaffrey arrived via trade last season, he underwent a crash course to be ready for game action. Now that he has more time, he wants to properly immerse himself to learn the rhyme and reason behind all the X’s and O’s.
“It means a lot to me,” McCaffrey said. “Not only getting dialed in with the playbook but making sure I got everything down. I’m starting from square one as if it’s my first day and I don’t know anything, not just learning the plays but learning every single detail of the positions.”
To that end, McCaffrey enjoys the 49ers’ staff setup at his running back position. The team is operating with two experienced running back coaches — Anthony Lynn, who began the 2022 season in that role, and Bobby Turner, who returned to the staff in late September after a hiatus due to health reasons.”
49ers Draft Preview: 3 kicking options, and whether door is still open for Robbie Gould
“Two names stand out, and for the 49ers’ purposes, really one: Michigan’s Jake Moody.”
49ers’ cover story: precious little depth in secondary entering the draft (paywall)
“A logical candidate in that spot is Minnesota’s Terrell Smith (6-foot, 204 pounds), who had a pre-draft visit with the 49ers. A three-year starter, Smith ran a blazing 40-yard dash (4.41 seconds) at the combine and has the size the 49ers seek at the position. Smith has 32 7/8-inch arms, the third longest among the 37 corners at the combine.”
““It’s been great so far,” Armstead told reporters Monday. “I think this is my fifth [defensive coordinator] since I’ve been here. All [are] different in some ways. And, you know, I’ve heard when we hired him, I heard great things about him. One of my best friends, Shaq Thompson, was with him in Carolina and speaks very highly of him and told me that I was going to love him. And ever since I got a chance to meet him and been around him, that’s been very true.”