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We're officially back into the portion of the offseason I hate. There's regular news being posted from minicamps and organized team activities in general, but there's not much of substance to be had from it. We've established the San Francisco 49ers had a rough offseason as a whole, a potentially decent draft and a so-so free agency period. We've established that it's easily the worst offseason of any team in the league and we've made our predictions going forward.
On top of that, defensive lineman Justin Smith decided to call it a career, which personally surprised me. I'm not entirely sure why, but I was pretty confident he'd return for another season. So much for that. Now we have to read a whole bunch about OTAs and the little things that don't matter much from them and hey -- NaVorro Bowman is sitting out practiced when he's supposedly 100 percent so that's fun (don't read much into that).
This should be an entertaining couple months leading up to the regular season. Let's get on to your links.
NaVorro Bowman sits out 49ers' OTA practice (Gutierrez)
49ers' minutia minute: Kendall Hunter looks good in 'starter' role (Barrows)
49ers RB Bush asks to be included in punt-return competition (Maiocco)
49ers' fastbreak: Tempo a major emphasis this offseason (Barrows)
RB Mike Davis apparently initiated into Colin Kaepernick's hard-target club (Inman)
Right side of O-line skipping 49ers' offseason program (Maiocco)
The Tomsula Transition: full speed ahead (Inman)
Smith's retirement gives 49ers more cap room (Maiocco)
Antoine Bethea: New DC Eric Mangini wants to 'cause confusion' (Gutierrez)
Coach Smith? Retired 49er doing homework on possible new career (Barrows)
OTA practice: up-tempo approach under Tomsula; Bowman off today; Hyde doesn't practice (Inman)
Either Justin Smith or Bryant Young has been a mainstay on D-line since 1994 (Gutierrez)
18 Observations from 49ers Thursday OTA Session (49ers)