The San Francisco 49ers wrapped up their second and final practice of minicamp before the long break. After the offense had a decent showing on day one, the defense came back and won day two. The team did their usual calisthenics and individual drills before commencing their team drills. Today’s 11-on-11 drills consisted of a hurry up offense where the offense had 1:20 on the clock to score, goal line drills where the offense starts with the ball placed anywhere from the 10 yard line to the goal line, and “move the ball” drills where the offense has to convert or punt.
Here are highlights from day two of minicamp:
Injury and participation report
We saw the first of rookie wide receiver Kendrick Bourne who was previously unable to practice because he had not finished his finals yet. He worked in mostly with the 3s and had one reception on pass from Nick Mullens.
Rashard Robinson, Ahmad Brooks, K’Waun Williams and Norman Price all worked on the side field with the strength and conditioning staff. They were held out of team drills as precautionary measures to not exacerbate any injuries.
Joe Staley is much happier
The veteran offensive lineman told the media after practice that after several seasons he is happy to come to work now. The number one reason why he’s so happy? Kyle Shanahan. Staley said “He’s the smartest coach I’ve been around.” Like we’ve heard from other players, Shanahan is very good at explaining the “why” of each position and play.
Carlos Hyde and Tim Hightower carry the load
Hyde and Hightower carried the ball the most during the practice. Hightower led with seven carries, one of which was a touchdown during the goal line drills and two receptions. Hyde carried the ball three times and had two receptions that were both touchdowns during the goal line drills. Raheem Mostert and Joe Williams each carried the ball twice while Matt Breida and Kapri Bibbs each carried the ball once.
Pierre Garçon, Jeremy Kerley and George Kittle are popular targets
Garçon ended the day with four receptions, two of which were touchdowns during the goal line drills. Kerley had three receptions, one from each quarterback. Kittle finished the day with three receptions, two of which were touchdowns during red zone drills. One of the touchdowns was thrown by Barkley and one by Beathard. Marquise Goodwin was the only other receiver that had more than one catch. He finished with two.
The defense gets a hat trick
When the team moved towards the end zone to practice goal line plays the secondary recorded three interceptions, one from each quarterback. Eric Reid, Will Davis and Chanceller James picked off Brian Hoyer, Matt Barkley and C.J. Beathard respectively.
The front seven gets theirs
While the offensive line works on finding their groove, the front seven took advantage of the opportunity. Chris Jones got to Beathard twice for sacks and Arik Armstead got past the line to sack Hoyer. Jimmie Gilbert and Eli Harold both got their hands on passes, breaking up the plays. Gilbert swatted down a pass by Beathard and Harold nearly caught his own tipped ball that was thrown by Hoyer.
The team will spend their third day of minicamp in a two hour strength and conditioning session with Ray Wright before bringing their families to the facility for activities including a bouncy castle for the kids. Personally I’d like to see B-roll of players in the castle, wouldn’t you?