Mike Evans misses 49ers practice as injuries threaten to derail punter battle (paywall)
“The injury doesn’t appear to be a long-term concern. Evans watched practice in street clothes and did some light receiver drills during the special teams portion of practice.
Two other receivers, Stribling (hamstring tightness) and Christian Kirk (calf strain), were seen sprinting on a side field in practice. Stribling was going full speed. Kirk seemed to be at three-quarters speed.“
49ers coordinator Brant Boyer
shares updates on key training camp battles “There’s a handful of guys and, to be honest with you, hopefully somebody emerges. I think [WR Jacob] Cowling, Pauling, [WR Jordan] Watkins, all those guys are back there. [WR] Junior Bergen. There’s a big handful of guys, and hopefully they can make great decisions and catch the ball first and foremost. That’s what’s most important. Pauling’s got a really good skill set. There’s a lot of guys that have good skill sets. It’s a matter of, can they make the right decisions? Can they block a gunner when they’re supposed to? Can they let a ball hit the ground when they’re supposed to? Can they go up and catch a fair catch when they’re supposed to? There’s a lot more that goes into it than just returning the ball. We’re trying to find the guy that has the whole package, that we can count on every week, that can catch the ball and make great decisions.”
49ers Camp Notes: I’m all in on Romello Height (paywall)
“[Height’s] arms are short, though, which raises a question about whether he actually finishes plays himself. He might end up being more of a guy who creates sacks for someone else than one who racks them up personally — more pressures than finishes. What I’m confident of is his ability as a disruptor, even if it’s a bit role.
I do know I saw him cook Colton McKivitz at least once on Monday. Another time, I saw him spin inside violently, forcing Dominick Puni to help. He and McKivitz ultimately drove Height into the ground, but it also meant Puni had to account for him. It was a proactive double team on a rookie. If people are having to double-team Height the way they double Nick Bosa or Osa Odighizuwa, that’s going to result in sacks and meaningful pressure elsewhere on the line. I’m legitimately all in on this kid as a pass rusher. He has a four-move bag I outlined in the draft guide that’s predicated on converting speed and hesitation……Good day for both starting corners. Deommodore Lenoir had at least a couple of breakups, including one on Jake Tonges.
Renardo Green looked pretty good. I loved that he, Marques Sigle, and Dre Brown were all communicating together. That communication is fundamental to raising the defense’s ceiling. Green had a full clamp on Jordan Watkins in the red zone…..
Tonges looks really good. I think he’s a great No. 2 receiving tight end I’d expect production from him regardless of George Kittle’s status. Jordan Watkins showed up from time to time and looked alright.
There was one incredible catch from Brayden Willis: a back-shoulder, one-handed grab, defended by (I think) Patrick McMorris. That was the only time I really noticed Willis.
Good stuff from Junior Bergen. Popped up in a lot of different places. Demarcus Robinson also had at least one nice grab early on….Keep an eye on Bryson Eason. He’s a hefty guy who packs some real punch with his hands. I think he has a route to make the team, especially with Gracen Halton not practicing.“
Mike Evans joins 49ers’ growing list of injuries despite team’s dialed-back camp (paywall)
“Jaden Dugger was drafted in the fifth round to play linebacker. His versatility, however, was notable after he played linebacker, edge and safety at different points in his college career. Monday was the first time Dugger worked with the defensive line group, which was particularly shorthanded due to injury. Dugger recorded what would’ve been a sack in a live setting from a defensive end’s alignment.”
Matt Maiocco’s 53-man 49ers roster projection 1.0 ahead of the 2026 NFL season
“Cowing looks the most comfortable among all the candidates when he is fielding punts. Winning that job in the return game will lock him into one of those spots.….The last couple spots [on the defensive line] are wide open, and such players as Sample, Sebastian Valdez, Bryson Eason and James Thompson still have plenty of time to win their spots….There is good competition among the cornerbacks. Veteran Nate Hobbs is definitely right there for one of these spots, as is fourth-round draft pick Ephesians Prysock. Depending on how he looks in the two joint practices and three preseason games, Prysock could be a no-brainer to win a spot on the team. The 49ers might feel that way, anyway, because he was selected in the fourth round and has a lot of promise. But, right now, Luter is looking good as one of the backups behind the top four guys: Lenoir, Green, Stout and Jones.”
Do the 49ers finally have a Trent Williams heir? Enrique Cruz Jr. is off to a good start (paywall)
“Instead, the least experienced of them all, rookie Enrique Cruz Jr., bounded into the huddle like an eager golden retriever, and the second-team offense didn’t skip a beat.
“Coach, who goes in?” Cruz recalled excitedly asking Chris Foerster. The offensive line coach’s quick response: “You! You go in!”
The sequence ended up being a good way to get rid of Day 1 jitters, Cruz said. And it offered a glimpse at one of the rookie’s top qualities: He isn’t shy.
“He has an infectious personality,” Cruz’s high school coach, Nick Hildreth, said. “He’s fun, he’s so outgoing, he’s so happy to be there. I’ve never seen him where he’s negative toward anybody, ever.”….. and though the two hit it off right away, there were some early obstacles.
The first was Cruz fancied himself a basketball player. Even after Hildreth convinced him to give football a try, he informed his coach he was a wideout.
“And I’m like, ‘You’re not a wideout,’” Hildreth told Cruz, who grew to 6 feet 5, 252 pounds before his senior season. “We did throw him the ball his senior year. He got the ball in his hands once.”
Another problem was Cruz’s GPA, which fell as low as 1.4. His worst subject? Cruz laughs and admits it was Spanish — funny because his family’s from Puerto Rico and he speaks the language.
“It was a different version of Spanish,” he said. “I’d be at my grandma’s house doing it, and my grandma would tell me it’s wrong, it’s the wrong term because it’s Puerto Rican Spanish and not Spanish Spanish. So it was pretty hard for me to learn.”….Hildreth also convinced Cruz to drop his beloved basketball for wrestling, a sport he’d never tried before but one that would make him a better offensive lineman.
“It’s hard on the ego to be the biggest, baddest kid in the building and then go to the wrestling room and get beat up,” Hildreth said.
Cruz truly took off as a junior. He was tall, powerful, long-limbed, and he could pull and wreak havoc on opposing linebackers. During the playoffs that year, Cruz caused a riot of euphoria on the Willowbrook sideline when he blocked a highly touted opponent out of the back of the end zone and into a snowbank.
“That was the beginning of his coming-out party,” Hildreth said.
By the time he graduated, his GPA was up to 3.0, and he’d gotten a scholarship from Syracuse.
Hildreth essentially told Foerster that story when the 49ers assistant flew to Willowbrook to give Cruz a workout before the draft.“
49ers star Nick Bosa shares why he feels faster after his 3rd ACL injury
”You learn something every time you do it, every year really, injury or not, you kind of learn how to prepare a certain way to be your best. When I came off of the one in 2020, it forced me to..I don’t know how to explain it. Honestly, my legs get so big when I have years built up of training them. And it’s not like I trained to bodybuild my legs. They get big. And I feel like it’s just an observation that I’ve made: coming off that injury in 2020, I was moving better with less mass on my legs.”
If you’ve ever seen Bosa in person, he has tree trunks for legs. It’s almost as if he’s waddling from side to side when he’s walking because of it. Good on Bosa for evolving and understanding what his body is telling him.
He continued: “This is a speed game. I’m a power rusher, but speed creates power, and the way you can move is everything. So I think there’s something to, ‘I move better when my legs aren’t quite as massive.’ I kind of have that feeling right now.”
