The San Francisco 49ers began training at training camp on Wednesday, marking the first time since June that players have shown up on the field with their teammates for a 75-minute practice that includes individual drills, team drills, 7-on-7s and some 11- counter-exercises included -11s as well.
As it was the first day of the training camp, the pads were not on. However, they will likely come during Monday’s practice session; the exact date is currently unknown.
The 49ers’ quarterbacks began warming up while taking snaps under center, and the first gold nugget fell when offensive lineman Daniell Brunskill started as one of the centers, originally taking over second-team reps behind veteran Jake Brendel.
Here were the 49ers starters on offense:
LT Colton McKivitz
LG Aaron Banks
C Jake Brendel
RG Spencer Burford
RT Mike McGlinchey
WR Brandon Aiyuk
WR Jauan Jennings
FB Kyle Juszczyk
TE George Kittle
RB Elijah Mitchell
QB Trey Lance
offense
quarterbacks
Trey Lance looked good on his first action at training camp on Wednesday, completing 9/11 passes during the scrimmage portion of the day and looking sharp during practice too. Lance didn’t test the deep ball that much during practice, but did well through progressions and had a nice, tight spiral to George Kittle on the touchline.
Nate Sudfeld was clearly the better backup of the group and should definitely claim the backup quarterback spot behind Trey Lance. Sudfeld, 28, was 11/11 during the scrimmage portion of the day and completed the best pass of practice on a 50-yard touchdown pass to Malik Turner on the sideline, who put the ball past cornerback Ambry Thomas.
However, Sudfeld had a couple of inaccurate shots during individual practices and held the ball too long in some games, which didn’t matter today as the pads weren’t on, but something will be seen as camp progresses.
Brock Purdy completed 4/5 passes during the scrimmage portion of practice and had his share of ups and downs. Purdy completed a nice pass to tight end Jordan Matthews on an incline that ran past the third-team defense to end practice. However, Purdy sometimes had some inaccuracies on individual exercises, and his lack of significant arm strength was definitely evident when throwing at Lance and Sudfeld.
It’s Day 1 of training camp, however, and with no cushions and a defensive line putting constant pressure on, their performances must be taken with a grain of salt.
Running backs
While I didn’t focus much on the running backs due to lack of pads, there were some nice plays from second-year running backs Elijah Mitchell and Trey Sermon, and rookie Tyrion-Davis Price.
Mitchell was a factor in the passing attack, catching two passes in the plane to two targets. His passing activity could increase this year after he had 19 catches for 137 yards on 20 goals in 2021. Remember, the 49ers hired Anthony Lynn, who has a penchant for getting the best out of his running backs in the reception game. as their run game coordinator.
Davis-Price had the longest rush of any 49er Wednesday, but the biggest focus on running backs will come when pads are laid, which likely comes next week.
wide receiver
Top receiver Brandon Aiyuk had four catches on Wednesday, leading receivers while Jauan Jennings and Ray-Ray McCloud both also saw action in the reception game.
Lance hit Aiyuk with a short comeback pass for their only connection of the day, also beating McCloud with a checkdown.
Via minicamp and now training camp, McCloud appears to be a checkdown favorite as he’s received most of his action in this role off-slot.
Veteran Malik Turner had the best game of the day when he took a deep pass home from Nate Sudfeld while being defended by Ambry Thomas.
tight ends
Much like minicamp, the tight ends continued to see action in the reception game as Tanner Hudson, Jordan Matthews, Ross Dwelley and George Kittle all made catches on Wednesday.
Currently, third-year tight end Charlie Woerner is the second tight end on the depth chart; However, Woerner is on the list of physically unfit players with a core muscle injury, leaving the door open for several other tights to receive expanded opportunities and potentially join the list as a third tight end.
Today was mainly a passing day due to the lack of pads, so we’ll see which players will soon shine when they come on.
offensive line
The biggest headlines came from the offensive line, as veteran Daniel Brunskill at his 2021 location, right guard, didn’t take on a single representative and was instead the backup center on Wednesday.
Spencer Burford, the team’s fourth-round pick this season, took over all first-team representatives at right back, while Jake Brendel started the day as starting center before Brunskill got some work with the starters.
Jaylon Moore, the team’s starting right guard during the OTAs, saw no action on guard and was instead the right backup for Mike McGlinchey, who started but was limited in practice.
Due to Trent Williams’ excused absence for personal reasons, Colton McKivitz was the first-team left tackle, similar to OTAs, while Aaron Banks snapped in as a left guard.
It will be interesting to watch the offensive line over the next few weeks as San Francisco experiments with where certain players will be fielded and who will take over for first-team representatives.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and, while equally important, not necessarily those of the site as a whole.
The San Francisco 49ers began training at training camp on Wednesday, marking the first time since June that players have shown up on the field with their teammates for a 75-minute practice that includes individual drills, team drills, 7-on-7s and some 11- counter-exercises included -11s as well. As it was the first day of the training camp, the pads were not on. However, they will likely come during Monday’s practice session; the exact date is currently unknown. Here were the 49ers’ starters on defense: DE Samson Ebukam DT Arik Armstead DT Javon Kinlaw DE Nick Bosa LB Fred Warner LB
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