The San Francisco 49ers reported to training camp Wednesday morning, and the folks at 49ers.com put together a nice gallery of photos featuring the arrivals. The picture above comes from that gallery, and features Patrick Willis, NaVorro Bowman, and Aaron Lynch. You can see another photo of the three of them with Anthony Davis in this tweet:
The #49ers have arrived for the start of training camp. #49ersCamp Photos: http://t.co/dQId8jLrHN pic.twitter.com/g1f0QfkaoE
— San Francisco 49ers (@49ers) July 23, 2014
The thing that immediately jumps to mind is this: Aaron Lynch is a big boy. At the Combine, he measured in at 6'5, 249 pounds, so this is not exactly a shocking revelation. He also has some fairly ridiculous 34 inch arms.
Lynch suffered a hamstring injury during OTAs, and opened training camp on the PUP list. I suspect he will be activated fairly quickly, and ideally we'll see him in game action when the 49ers open their preseason against the Baltimore Ravens. I have quickly become a fan of the long arms, particularly on pass rushing linebackers. We've posted the pictures of Corey Lemonier bringing down quarterbacks with absolutely monstrous arms. And of course, we know Aldon Smith has a ridiculous wingspan.
Aaron Lynch would seem to follow in that mold. He has the frame to potentially add another 20 or 30 pounds, and maybe even more. My guess is the 49ers work to get him up into the 255-265 range, like the rest of their outside linebackers. He has a lot of raw talent, but the 49ers also do not need to rush him into a significant role. Even with Aldon Smith facing a potential suspension, the 49ers still have Corey Lemonier and Dan Skuta in reserve. I'm sure they'd like to see Lynch take a big step forward, but they can take some time developing him into another pass rush threat.
Head over to 49ers.com to check out the rest of the arrival photos.