The San Francisco 49ers concluded practice Thursday afternoon, and now begin preparations to depart for Houston. The team wrapped up their practice week without pads, so that made for a bit looser of a session. We've got a few of the practice recaps linked down below, and at the bottom you can track the media Twitter list for more recaps.
Derek Carrier seems to be the talk of Thursday's practice, and it sounds like he is developing nicely as a pass catcher. Grant Cohn is a big fan of his, saying he is "clearly" the second best receiving tight end on the roster behind Vernon Davis. Carrier converted from wide receiver coming out of college, and has slowly worked his way up the depth chart. The 49ers gave him a 2-year extension prior to free agency and the draft. The team subsequently added Blake Bell and Busta Anderson, so it will be interesting to see where Carrier factors into all of this.
Kendall Gaskins had another solid day, but as Cohn pointed out, it's hard to fully evaluate running backs in practices. I imagine he will end up with a good deal of work this Saturday, alongside Jarryd Hayne and Mike Davis, behind Carlos Hyde. I have a hunch he will come up short in the roster competition, but he could do enough to get claimed when final roster cuts are made.
Craig Dahl and Jaquiski Tartt hauled in the defense's two interceptions on the day. We'll see both of these guys in the 49ers secondary on Saturday. We kind of know what we get with Dahl, but Tartt is obviously somebody to keep a close eye on. He is a big hitter, but his coverage is a question mark. Hopefully he gets tested early and often in coverage this weekend.
It sounds like there were some issues with shotgun snaps. The new center/quarterback combination has a month left to get things together, so we'll see how it looks coming out of the gates on Saturday.
49ers.com
Grant Cohn
Jimmy Durkin
Matt Maiocco
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