Golden Nuggets: GAME DAY!

With no first- or second-round pick in 2023, John Lynch needed to give his scouts a pep talk

“After practice today, we’ll get on a Zoom with all our college scouts and just this morning trying to anticipate, are they excited, are they bummed because here goes all their guys,” Lynch told reporters. “My message is going to be, this is all the more reason we have to make these picks count. We’re fortunate that some different avenues, minority coaches that brought us some picks. I think that empowers you to do something like this because you have a couple of [compensatory] threes, and you’ll get more in the future with things of that nature. But ultimately, you weigh everything and because of our belief in our team and what we feel we can do and what [Christian McCaffrey] does for us as a football team, you try to make a move like this, and it broke our way.”

Christian McCaffrey’s crash course on the 49ers’ playbook is underway (paywall)

“Just about 14 hours after he learned of the trade, McCaffrey had made it the full 2,500 miles from Charlotte to Santa Clara. Upon arrival at Levi’s Stadium, McCaffrey wasted no time in beginning to lobby 49ers general manager John Lynch to let him play in the team’s showdown this Sunday against Kansas City...He said, ‘This is just a road game,’” Lynch said. “‘I’ve practiced twice this week. I got on a plane. I came out here.’”

How the 49ers have built a modern defense around linebacker Fred Warner (paywall)

“Schematically, defensive coordinator DeMeco Ryans achieves this with a rare middle-out philosophical approach — trusting second-level defenders to handle potential issues in the middle/intermediate areas of the field to buy the pass rush time to get home and the defensive backfield space to stay over the top of vertical passing concepts. This starts, persists and ends with the play of Fred Warner, who deserves a separate category and consideration when it comes to linebacker play.”

Kawakami: Christian McCaffrey and the 5 fateful 49ers moments that led to the trade (paywall)

“Oh yeah, I just got excited seeing him walk by right now,” Williams said with a chuckle on Friday, glancing over to McCaffrey’s new locker, situated between George Kittle and Charvarius Ward. “Gotta keep my composure.”