Santa Clara – Here’s who popped in on day nine of 49ers training camp. Keep in mind that Nick Bossa hasn’t trained.
The good
1. Free Safety Jimmy Ward
Tri-Lance intercepted (more on it in a minute). It was three and nine, Ward read Lance’s eyes, broke early on passing through the apartment, picked her up and put her back down. Ward also broke up two passes during the 1-on-1 drill – one while covering Jauan Jennings and one while covering Ray-Ray McCloud (more on it in a minute). Ward is the top player in an excellent high school at 49 seconds.
2. Quarterback Tree Lance
I bet you thought I’d put it in a not so good section, right? I almost did. But after throwing the 6 pick, he led the attack on the field in 80 seconds and threw a 15-yard touchdown pass with time to win by three points. He climbed into his pocket, bought time by rolling to the left, stopped, saw Ray-Ray McCloud open in the end zone and fired a beautiful touchdown pass across the field. So Lance was a claw and saved himself. In the final drive, Lance was close to perfect. First, he hit George Keitel for 17 yards. Then Lance threw a flat pass to JaMycal Hasty, knocking it down. Then Lance defended for 6 yards. Then Lance hit Deebo Samuel for 6 yards at 3 and 4. Then Lance defended for 7 yards. Then he hit Lance Keitel for 11 yards. Then he hit Lance Keitel for 3 yards. Then Lance threw the landing card to McCloud. Lance obviously needs to be more consistent, but he showed the potential to be an elite in that final drive. He finished training 11 to 19 with two drops.
3. Javon Kinlaw Defensive Tackle
He took one rep during a 1-on-1 pass-lush drill—his first rep in two years—and won. He defeated Aaron Banks by chatter. Kinlaw also trained extensively during 11 days 11 seconds for the first time this off season. All good signs.
4. Guarding the banks of Aaron
He mostly loses in 1-to-1 drills because he doesn’t prove very good at protecting passes and gets pushed back, but blocking a run is another story. Today in the 11 day 11 seconds, Banks knocked Kinlaw to the ground and opened a huge hole for Elijah Mitchell who broke into it and gained 30 yards. Banks is the biggest player on the team, and she shows up while running plays.
5. Depo Samuel’s wide reception
Beat Tarvarius Moore to hit 20 yards. Also beat Charvarius Ward to hit 6 yards at 3 and 4. More in Ward in a minute.
6. Tight End George Keitel
He made three touchdowns in the last round of training to put the attack on his back. Kittle had a quiet camp, but when offense dropped by four points with 1:20 left, Lance went to Kittle over and over again. He also beat Charvarius Ward in depth but Lance knocked out what should have been a long pass.
7. Cornerback Emmanuel Mosley
He closed a deep pass intended for Deebo Samuel, then cut a short pass intended for Brandon Aiyuk. Moseley is an elite competitor every day of camp. Deebo can’t beat him now, because he’s not in regular season form yet. Mosley sure.
8. Goalkeeper Spencer Burford
Go to follow
Defeat Kevin Givens and Kerry Hyder by 1 on 1s. Burford is great at the pass protection drill.
9. Wide Reception Ray McCloud
Four passes were caught during team training including the only touchdown pass from training. Based on camp only, McCloud should be recipient #3, not Jauan Jennings.
10. Offensive handling of Jordan mills
He signed with the 49ers this morning and then won all of his reps during 1 to 1. Granted, he’s a veteran battling the third strings. Still, he looks better than Justin Skoll (more on him in a minute).
11. Running Back Ty Davis-Price
Carry the ball four times with the first string attack and gain 20 yards – that’s 5 yards per carry against the elite defense. Davis Price always ends up running wild by hitting the player trying to stop him. Defensive players don’t like this, so they hit him hard every time he touches the ball. Davis Price doesn’t seem to mind.
12. Danny Gray wide receiver
A long touchdown pass was caught during the 1 on 1s after beating Kedar Holman. He also should have had a long touch pass through 11 in 11 seconds after beating Tariq Castro Fields, but Brock Purdy knocked out the pass. So Gray had two stellar moments. But Purdy yelled at him during a different play because Gray stopped his way when he should have continued running to the sideline. Purdy was rolling and wanted to throw the ball to Gray, but Gray stopped, so Purdy threw the ball away. learning moment.
Not very good
1. Back Corner Charvarius Ward
not compete. It was targeted 5 times and abandoned 4 grips. She was hit once by KeeSean Johnson, twice by Jauan Jennings (dropping one Jennings) and once by Deebo Samuel. It’s better than playing this badly. To be fair, boot camp is a tough one, and it’s hard to put in 100 percent effort on day nine. However, Ward is a highly paid leader on this team, and he needs to stick to a higher standard.
2. Cornerback Ambrey Thomas
He nearly broke a pass, but gave up two catches instead.
3. Joan Jennings Wide Reception
He got a pass from Lance for the first time since last Saturday. He also dropped a pass from Lance, which Jennings apparently does once a day. He also slid through a path that resulted in an incomplete pass. Jennings must be a player, because he’s not very good at practice.
4. Justin Skoll’s offensive tackle
He lost most of his reps during 1-on-1 lunge drills. He appears to be inferior to Colton McKevitz and Jordan Mills, who also play offensively. I’m not sure Skule will make the team.