The San Francisco 49ers held their eighth practice of training camp on Thursday, with their annual Dwight Clark celebration happening as the team doesn’t have an open practice tomorrow.
San Francisco’s injury list continues to mount, as offensive lineman Nick Zakelj did not practice after suffering an elbow injury on Wednesday, according to ESPN’s Nick Wagoner. That brought the list of players out to 16, as a couple of others made their returns to the practice field.
Dre Greenlaw, De’Zhaun Stribling,
and Osa Odighizuwa all returned to practice, with the rookie wideout coming off a hamstring injury. In addition, Sam Okuayinonu was back and participating.
While Stribling was not practicing at 100 percent, it was a good sign to see him return, and he’s gotten some strong reviews from teammates for his early performances in training camp while other receivers were injured.
“I call him the Flying Hawaiian because he’s so fast,” quarterback Mac Jones said of Stribling. “But he definitely is fast. Some guys, you know, they can be really quick, but they’re not as strong. So he has both. I don’t have a comp for him yet, but I think he’ll be a really good player. Obviously got a chance to throw to him in the offseason a little bit, like when we went to Nashville and stuff. And I don’t know, just the way he got to the ball when it’s in the air was impressive.
“He has like a second gear when the ball’s in the air. Some guys are really fast, but when the ball goes up, and your eyes go up, you slow down. But he doesn’t do that. So it’s pretty impressive. And we’ve got a few guys that are like that, Jordan Watkins and obviously, Mike Evans is one of the best at it. So you want to have guys like that. And speed is good, but you want ball speed where the ball’s in the air, they don’t slow down. So he has that.”
On the field, the 49ers’ battle at left guard continued, as free agent addition Robert Jones got another day of reps with the first-team offense. Connor Colby, who had been getting a ton of first-team reps at left guard, instead was rotating with the backups on both the left and the right side, according to Wagoner.
It seemed to be a strong day for the offense and quarterback Brock Purdy, who received some major praise from defensive coordinator Raheem Morris after practice for his energy and ability to layer throws.
“The Layer King has some really intensive intensity, and I like that about him,” Morris said about Purdy. “It’s really fun for me when you get a chance to get some of those call-it periods, and you get a chance to go in the back with the offense, and you call your play, and then you get a chance to just hear him operate. You’re listening to him and you’re able to hear him operate, and you’re able to hear him operate in a very pro manner.
“How he communicates with the coaches, you know, how he’s very upfront. Today he got fired up, which was cool, which is fun, which is competitive. And I love that. And like when he does those things, it just makes the team go. I watched our team go out there and basically have a fight for an hour and a half. And then I’ll hug at the end of practice and cheer for each other. It’s the weirdest thing ever. It’s awesome. But it was a lot of fun with that guy. He’s awesome.”
San Francisco has a walk-through practice on Friday before returning to the practice field on Saturday. Hopefully, we continue to see more players get off the sidelines and onto the field as San Francisco’s injury bug looms.
