Richard Sherman hits the field for his first padded practice with 49ers

The San Francisco 49ers returned to the practice field on Sunday for their second padded practice of training camp, and Richard Sherman’s first such practice. After taking part in two non-padded practices on Thursday and Friday, Sherman got a rest day on Saturday.

The padded practices bring more physicality, and we saw that in some of the instruction for the defensive backs. Matt Maiocco got some video of Sherman and the defensive backs working on some drills that involved getting your hands on receivers.

The cornerbacks then did one-on-one work against wide receivers. Sherman faced off against Marquise Goodwin and Aldrick Robinson, and results were mixed at best. Goodwin put a move on Sherman and blew past him. Sherman seemed to run fine, but there was no way he was going to keep up with Goodwin. Rob Lowder got this video of the entire play, closed with a great catch by Goodwin.

On the next series, Sherman faced off against Aldrick Robinson. The veteran receiver looked like he was going deep, but then cut to the interior of the field. At that point, Sherman grabbed a whole bunch of jersey and was flagged for holding. Matt Maiocco got some video of both the Goodwin and Robinson plays, as well as the instruction period work.

This practice is the first time Sherman has put on pads for a 49ers practice. We can’t read too much into it at this point, but Sherman’s ability to recover if he doesn’t get hands on a receiver will be something to watch heading into the preseason. His game is built on getting physical at the line, but how he handles double moves and how he gets down the field from there could make or break this season for him.

There will be room for overreaction based on just these videos, but we’ll get more of this over the next month of camp.