The San Francisco 49ers are continuing their offseason workouts, and they are now allowed to receiving coaching from the staff. The offseason workouts began with the players working only with the strength and conditioning coaches. They have advanced to working with the rest of the coaching staff, but they are still not allowed to engage in contact drills. This allows the team work on implementing the offense on a fairly basic level, before they take it to the next level against the defense.
49ers.com has been providing some video of the workouts, with yesterday's latest video providing footage of a gauntlet-type drill. Offensive and defensive players ran through a drill that looked much like what draft prospects run through at the NFL Combine. 49ers wide receiver Michael Crabtree, who missed out on the Combine due to a stress fracture in his foot, said, "That was cool. It felt like something I missed at the combine. That's why I wished I would've done the combine, the gauntlet, the routes and the 40."
The big buzz surrounded recent free agent acquisition Randy Moss. Alex Smith mentioned how "[y]ou see him running around and he's got a big dart board as quarterbacks like to say. He's got a big target and it really makes you look good. He looks young. He looks fresh."
Running around in shorts and jerseys does not tell us a whole lot about where a given player stands at this point. It is hopefully a sign of things to come, but we'll have to wait until preseason action gets here to really get an idea of where Moss stands. My one concern was how a year off might impact Moss, but I remain optimistic. My hope is that the season off allowed him to sufficiently re-charge his batteries where there won't be an issue of rust.
It's safe to say training camp cannot get here soon enough.