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In today’s links, you’ll read about the 49ers plans for pride month, how MyCole Pruitt is a super athlete, Julio, Elijah Mitchell’s background, and Jauan Jennings standing out in practice.
Last year, Jennings couldn’t beat hardly anyone. This year, in a seven-on-seven drill, Jennings ran past starting nickelback K’Waun Williams and made a long catch down the middle of the field seem easy. Reached up and grabbed the ball with his hands without breaking stride.
Jennings seems like the early favorite to be the 49ers’ slot receiver in 2021. Of course, if 2019 third-round pick Jalen Hurd gets healthy and stays healthy, he could be the slot receiver. But Hurd isn’t healthy, and Jennings is.
And he looks terrific.
Elijah Mitchell brings a blue-collar style to the 49ers: ‘Jeans and boots — he’s a cowboy’
“When I got here, I told Coach Napier that we had a special player in Elijah Mitchell,” Juluke said in a phone conversation earlier this month.
Unprompted, Juluke then echoed the heart of Napier’s evaluation.
“Elijah’s definitely not afraid of hard work,” Juluke said. “He’s definitely been on the farm his whole life. He’s definitely jeans and boots — he’s a cowboy. He’s very simple.
“His dad is an older gentleman, and his dad does not play. His dad raised him to be a man that has to take on responsibilities and that’s carried over to his football work ethic as well. Elijah was always the most talented guy coming out of high school, and he came here and winded up going to a room that had just as much talent as he had, and he learned how to compete. And I think that his upbringing helped him to become that competitor and understand that nothing was going to be given to him. He had to go out and work for it.”
The 49ers recently were seen as the betting favorites to land Jones. Atlanta, understandably, might not be willing to move Jones to a fellow NFC team, but if they do, the 49ers could be the perfect fit.
Jones, 32, still is one of the best receivers in all of football. In only nine games last season, he hauled in 51 receptions for 771 yards and three touchdowns on a Falcons team that only won four games. That broke a streak of six streak seasons with at least 1,000 receiving yards. In that span, his lowest amount of receiving yards was 1,394 in 2019.
49ers in market for another TE, set to host free agent MyCole Pruitt
Pruitt is an interesting player in terms of his fit in San Francisco and what he adds as a pass catcher.
Blocking has been Pruitt’s primary function in the NFL since the Vikings selected him in the fifth round of the 2015 draft. Across his six seasons he’s played in 63 games and caught only 32 balls for 343 yards and four touchdowns. Most of that productivity came in the last three years when he played for the Titans. With Tennessee he caught 20 passes for 241 yards and all four of his touchdowns in 42 games.
His athletic profile reflects what looks like a potentially dangerous pass catcher. He’s 6-2, 245 pounds and ran a 4.58 in the 40-yard dash (90th percentile among TEs) with a 1.6 10-yard split (77th percentile). Pruitt’s 38-inch vertical jump landed in the 93rd percentile.
2021 49ers PRIDE Collection: The brand-new 2021 49ers PRIDE Collection is currently the only genderless retail line released by an NFL team. The line was created in partnership with Fanatics and is meant to make the already expansive 49ers retail offerings more inclusive. When wearing these items, the Faithful will not only be supporting the team but also several relevant beneficiaries who will receive 100% of the 49ers proceeds from collection sales: San Francisco LGBT Center, Oakland LGBTQ Center, and The LGBTQ Youth Space: San Jose.
Please visit 49ers.com/PRIDE to view the collection and make purchases.