I'm guessing this is gonna kill our lone Babatunde Oshinowo fan: According to Barrows Twitter page, the 49ers released Oshinowo and signed wide receiver Chris Francies. Francies went undrafted in 2006, signed as a free agent with the Green Bay Packers and spent 2008 on the New Orleans Saints practice squad. Given the extended downtime for Brandon Jones, Francies isn't much more than a camp body.
In the meantime, the 49ers practiced this morning and it wasn't exactly a good day for Alex Smith, who was 2 of 7 (recaps by the 2 Matts are below). Hill was much more accurate, but he was also throwing mostly underneath stuff, and wasn't all that successful going deep. From what I've read, it sounded like Brandon Jones was going to be the deep threat for this team. I think a guy like Morgan can fill that role, but for now this is definitely not a team that will be going for the homerun pass all that often. At least that's my thought for now.
Maiocco described the practice as more of a successful day by the defense than anything else. It sounds like Dre Bly is coming around. As long as Brown is on the shelf with his toe issue, Bly is able to put some distance between them. I think Bly was likely to be starting week 1 anyways, but this is pushing back any chance Brown has of passing him on the depth chart. I know some folks are down on Bly as a starter, but we could very well see a resurgence from him. As I recall, Walt Harris was thought to be on the downside when the 49ers signed him and he turned in a Pro Bowl season.
It sounds like injury-wise, not a lot has changed. Nobody appeared to get hurt today and Parys Haralson and Jay Moore were both back in full practice today. Brown, Willis, Walker, Baas and Robinson remain out of action. Let's hope folks can stay mildly healthy going forward.
After the jump I've posted a transcript of Mike Singletary's press conference today.
Sources
Matt Barrows Recap
Matt Maiocco Recap
On how long Brandon Jones will be out:
"It’s going to be longer than a couple of weeks. It’s more like eight weeks. Yes. We had the X-Ray this morning. [There’s] a little bit of a fracture there, so it’s going to be longer than we anticipated. But, we’ll work through it. The receiver’s that we’ve got here, we’re very confident in our guys here. They’ll continue to work, and thankfully we’ll get him back after that eight-week period."
On how Brandon Jones’ injury and the fact that Michael Crabtree is not in camp affects the receiving corps:
"It doesn’t do anything, to be honest. As I said before, this is not a political speech. It’s the truth. We’ve got wide receivers that Jerry Sullivan is working his tail off with them. They’re growing, progressing. We’re fine for right now."
On who steps into Brandon Jones’ role as the No. 3 wide receiver:
"I think that’s something that Jerry Sullivan and myself, along with coach [Jimmy] Raye, sit down and talk about. Thankfully, as I’ve said before, we have some receivers, and I know we have some who are capable of stepping in and doing a good job. I hate that we lost Brandon Jones. He’s making great strides, doing a great job. Thankfully he will be back after that period."
On how much it hurts Michael Crabtree’s learning curve missing this many days of camp:
"You just never know. It all depends on how his learning curve is. If I know him, he’s working his tail off. He’s studying the playbook, but it doesn’t really come together until you come out and execute it. Hopefully, when he comes in, the learning curve is not as great as it may take some others. Hopefully he’ll just catch right on and go from there."
On whether Michael Crabtree has a playbook:
"Some of the things that we had in OTAs. I’m sure, somehow, someway he’s got something that he’s working with."
On whether the reports that Michael Crabtree may sit out the season perturbed him at all:
"No. Not at all. Not at all. For me, as I’ve said all along, when I come out here, the most important thing for me is to look at the guys that we have here and try to find the players that we need out of those guys and win football games. Thankfully, we have enough guys to do that. But, the whole Crabtree thing, as I’ve said before, I’m very excited about him when he comes in, but I’m going to focus on those guys out there and be true to the vision at hand."
On whether Michael Crabtree has become a distraction:
"No. We don’t talk about it. Hopefully we don’t ever talk about it because the thing we need to do is take care of business out here."
On when the last time he talked to Michael Crabtree was and how the conversation went:
"The last time was right before training camp. Just a matter of letting me know how he was doing. It was a good conversation, but nothing in-depth. He was doing well, just letting me know he was doing fine."
On whether he gave Michael Crabtree things to work on during that conversation:
"No."
On how surprised he is that the situation with Michael Crabtree is escalating in the media:
"You just never know what’s going to happen. When you have players, you have agents, you have the media, nothing surprises me when those three things are involved. As I’ve said before, I just focus on what’s out here. But, I’m not surprised at all, don’t know what to expect. I just have to keep it going out here."
On whether there’s a point where he says that Michael Crabtree has to get to camp:
"I will say this: I think, for me, it’s just – if I can just keep my focus here, and in terms of Crabtree, when he comes in, he comes in. Would you love to have him in? Absolutely. You’d love to have him. Would you want him here? Yes, we want him in. But, until that happens, I just can’t sit back and think about the what-ifs. All I can do is concentrate on what is, and control that."
On how much he thinks media, family and agents factor into a player’s contract demands:
"It all depends on the trust that the player has in the relationship. If he really trusts the guy, who knows? If he’s not sure, you just never know how that’s going to work out, but it all comes down to the trust of the player and the agent, and no one can really judge how strong that is."
On whether the team will bring in another receiver in light of Brandon Jones’ injury and the Michael Crabtree situation:
"At this point, we may or may not bring another receiver in and work him out and see what we have. But, there’s no sense of urgency in terms of doing anything right now, but continuing to work. As I’ve said before, we feel very good about what we have. It’s unfortunate that it happened to him, but we’re just going to keep working."
On whether surgery is necessary for Brandon Jones:
"No."
On whether Brandon Jones’ injury will heal on its own:
"Just time. He just needs time."
On Isaac Bruce playing every practice without veteran’s time off and whether he has considered giving Bruce time off:
"As I’ve said before, and I mean this in all honesty, I talk to these guys. I talk to our trainers. I talk to our doctors. How are they doing? How’s it going? Isaac Bruce wants to work. We’re watching it. It’s not like he’s out here running 80 routes a day. He’s smart. He’s a veteran. He knows what he needs to do. He knows what he needs. So, Isaac’s doing just fine."
On how soon he expects to get Patrick Willis back on the field:
"I don’t know. It’s a day-to-day thing. With Patrick, it’s not one of those things that I’m really thinking about a lot. I think Patrick is doing fine. When he comes back, he’ll pick up where he left off."
On whether he is being overly cautious with Patrick Willis given that Willis is the team’s best player:
"I think, with Patrick, he’s just one of those guys who will work himself to death. We’ve got a few of those guys. You’re blessed with them, but at the same time, the worst thing you can do is ask them a question and ask them how they’re feeling because they’re always going to say ‘great.’ So, you always have to, with Patrick, keep your hands on him and make sure you watch him. But, he’s fine. He’s doing great and feeling great."
On whether Dominique Zeigler could be the guy to step into Brandon Jones’ role:
"Certainly Dominique has continued to make strides since he’s been here. We’ll just have to sit down and talk about it and see what we’re thinking and we’ll go from there."
On whether he is satisfied with the progress the team is making one week into camp:
"We just talked about that a little bit as a team. I think right now, we’re on track. We’re not executing the way we want to execute right now, but I don’t think anyone is outworking us. As long as we continue to work, gain progress and confidence, the execution will come. I’m very proud of the guys in terms of the work ethic, but in terms of the execution, we’re not there yet. We just have to keep plugging away."