Golden Nuggets: Rookies are in town and chatting it up

The San Francisco 49ers welcomed their rookies to town this week as the offseason workout program is in full swing. The rookie minicamp will take place next weekend, March 23-25, but in the meantime, most of the rookies are free and clear to begin workouts.

The big news of the day was that the team got two more rookies signed to contracts. It really should not take much time to get most of these deals locked up. Jimmie Ward might take a little bit longer due to negotiation of offset language, but otherwise all the deals are pretty much locked in by the collective bargaining agreement.

The arrival of the rookies means the media gets more opportunities with them as well. The 49ers had a dedicated session on Thursday in which media could speak with the various rookies. Many of the links come courtesy of those sessions. The first to check out is BASG's transcript of Bruce Ellington's Q&A. He spoke about seeing Marcus Lattimore again, and catching passes from Colin Kaepernick, but the most important part was clearly his discussion of the team's Nerf hoop. The team has a hoop in the locker room, and Quinton Patton made Dunk Cam a regular Instagram feature. Ellington player point guard on the South Carolina basketball team for a stretch before switching to football full time. I have a hunch we'll see a lot of him on Dunk Cam!

Hyde, Johnson sign

Report: 49ers sign Carlos Hyde and Dontae Johnson (Gin)
49ers sign RB Hyde, CB Johnson; five rookie deals done (Barrows)
49ers Sign Draft Picks Carlos Hyde, Dontae Johnson (49ers.com)

Carlos Hyde talks

Carlos Hyde among 49ers' five signed rookies (Williamson)
Carlos Hyde solves the mystery behind his twitter handle (Lynch)
San Francisco 49ers running back Carlos Hyde: 'I think I'll fit in great here' (NFL.com)
Hyde excited to learn from Gore (Maiocco)
Hyde arrives with strong appreciation for Gore’s ‘Hall of Fame’ career (Inman)
Carlos Hyde: "I'm angry on the field. That's when guys are trying to hit me." (Cohn transcript)
49ers post-2014 NFL Draft Q&A: What happens to Frank Gore? (GIn)

Shayne Skov talks

Shayne Skov eager for what may be 49ers' best offseason position battle (Barrows)
Skov has no answer why he went undrafted (Maiocco)
Stanford’s Skov ready to ‘make my mark’ on 49ers (Inman)
49ers’ undrafted LB Skov: ‘It puts a chip on your shoulder’ (Branch)

Josh Johnson talks

QB Johnson, on having better shot than 2012: ‘The whole athletic quarterback deal wasn’t as big as it is now’ (Inman)
Johnson: 49ers job a better fit for skills with Kap at QB (Maiocco)
Nothing personal, Alex: Johnson happy to see changes to 49ers’ offense (Branch)
Josh Johnson: "I feel like I’m past the developmental stage of my career." (Cohn transcript)

Miscellaneous

Fingers in the ice tub? Call it the ‘Kaepernick Remedy’ for new WRs Johnson and Ellington (Inman)
Did San Francisco 49ers QB Colin Kaepernick improve in 2013? (NFL.com)
The Remix: 49ers 'Football School' (49ers.com)
Marcus Lattimore Update: Ready for RB Competition (49ers.com)
Deone Bucannon, Trai Turner, Carlos Hyde could have biggest draft impacts for NFC teams (SI.com)
Crabtree, Iupati Futures With 49ers Now More Cloudy (NBC Bay Area)