The San Francisco 49ers got through another day of practice in general decent health. Michael Crabtree and Brandon Lloyd sat out, along with Tramaine Brock, Ray McDonald, Justin Smith, and Demarcus Dobbs. There are reports that Dobbs is dealing with a personal issue, and is expected back on Friday.
Vance McDonald
One guy that is having a mixed camp is Vance McDonald. It sounds like he had eight receptions on the day, but reports indicate he is still dealing with drops.
Making strides. Still too many drops. RT @MackswellPerry: @ChrisBiderman how's Vance been progressing overall so far?
— Chris Biderman (@ChrisBiderman) July 31, 2014
McDonald apparently made a nice catch on a seam route, but got his head around a little slow on the play. Greg Roman addressed the media after practice and said that was something they wanted McDonald to do a better job in that kind of situation. Vernon Davis struggled catching the ball when he first joined the 49ers, and we can always go back to Jerry Rice's problems dropping the ball. McDonald dealt with this issue to some extent in college, so he is clearly going to have to keep working extensively to try and correct it.
Marcus Martin, Aaron Lynch getting close to returning
Cam Inman reported Martin and Lynch look pretty close to ready to return. Both participated in individual drills for the first time in camp.
Martin was on the NFI list, and Lynch was on the PUP list to start camp. Both have since been activated but are being worked back in slowly. Martin was expected to challenge Daniel Kilgore at the center position, but his ankle injury does not bode well for that. He'll get work in preseason action, but I suspect he spends this season as a reserve.
Lynch was not going to challenge for a starting role at outside linebacker, and now he is a bit behind in competing for a reserve role. Dan Skuta and Corey Lemonier are far enough ahead that Lynch's best chance to make an impact as a rookie will be on special teams.
Perrish Cox continues to perform
Matt Barrows went into some detail on Perrish Cox's performance. He got first team work opposite Chris Culliver, with Cook backing up Culliver. Barrows made the point that Cox's base defense work has been primarily on the left side, while Cook's has primarily been on the right side. That would seemingly leave the depth chart behind Brock and Culliver unclear for now.
Participation Report
Did not practice: Justin Smith (shoulder surgery), Anthony Davis (shoulder surgery), Demarcus Dobbs (personal), Tramaine Brock (unknown), Michael Crabtree (unknown), Brandon Lloyd (unknown), LaMichael James (elbow)
Participated in individual drills: Aaron Lynch (hamstring), Marcus Martin (ankle)
Returned to practice: Jon Baldwin, Chris Culliver
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Practice Reports
Cam Inman
Chris Biderman
Matt Barrows
Matt Maiocco
Grant Cohn
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