I was planning on giving a brief recap each day for the 49ers organized team activities. However, some days are slower than others so this will be more of random summaries to date with no particularly organized time pattern. Additionally, it will likely be a combination of open thread on the OTAs and a link dump of anything remotely related, so feel free to throw in any links you might come across.
Arnaz Battle
After falling off the face of the earth for much of this week, Arnaz Battle has made contact and will be attending next week's workouts. Battle gave the ever popular "personal reasons" as his excuse for missing the first week. A lot of times you can figure out the real reason, whether it be a contract issue, playing time, or general unhappiness with the team. In this case, I honestly don't know what would be the cause of this, other than something that actually is a "personal reason." At some point some reason is bound to slip out, so I guess we'll just wait and see until then. In the meantime, assuming all is well, Battle is definitely in a position for another solid season considering his past and the incoming Mike Martz-offense.
Barry Sims
Depth along the offensive line is viewed as a big problem going into the 2008 season. Nolan has admitted as much and injuries over the past few seasons have created problems along the OL. Any and every able body helps and so the 49ers have been talking with 10-year veteran Barry Sims. It certainly helps that he's been playing in the Bay Area for so long and he is represented by a San Francisco-based agent. I was looking over his Scout's Inc scouting report and he could definitely be useful this season:
Sims has adequate bulk and strength to go with good foot quickness and agility. He is a smart player with the ability to learn and has played both tackle spots as well as guard. He is a tough lineman who plays with a lot of confidence and tenacity. He can struggle in a strength contest but will fight and scrap and generally get the job done. He understands angles and blocking techniques and rarely allows himself to get into bad situations. He lacks the stride length to be effective out on the island as a tackle and lacks the bulk and power to be real effective inside against the NFLs bigger nose tackles and defensive tackles. He works blocks and rarely lets his feet die, so he always has a chance to get the job done but it won't always be pretty. Sims is the kind of lineman you love for his leadership and competitiveness, and while you hope to have enough talent to keep him on the bench as a backup but he won't hurt you as a starter.
This is definitely something to keep in the back of our minds. Even if he's not productive on the field, a guy like Sims seems like a perfect mentor for Chilo Rachal. Sims is experienced and as a tackle he could definitely show Rachal the ropes. I just hopped over to Barrows blog and he had an interesting comment on what could potentially happen if Sims were signed. It seems there is some disagreement on moving Rachal to tackle. Bringing in Sims would provide the necessary depth at tackle and allow the team to move Rachal back to his more natural guard position. We'll see how this plays out.
Take Spikes
The rumors had floated around about Spikes for the last couple of months and it seems like we can finally stick a fork in them. Spikes is on the downside of his career and I'd prefer to see guys like Ulbrich and Thomas get a crack at the Ted position. Veterans are always nice, but I didn't see Spikes contributing anymore than the guys we've already got.
If anything else comes along today I'll update this.
EDITOR'S UPDATE 10:15PM: MM is reporting Barry Sims will be coming in for a workout next Monday.