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49ers get good injury news to open joint practices with Vikings
“Armstead is making his way back from an MCL sprain he suffered early in camp. Head coach Kyle Shanahan indicated Saturday that Armstead could’ve returned to practice prior to Wednesday, but the team wanted to hold him out until the joint practices in Minnesota. He was also a participant in individual drills only.”
Barrows: 49ers’ Trey Lance, Deebo Samuel heat up vs. Vikings, including big 4th-down play (paywall)
“On Wednesday, he looked a lot like he had in recent practices in Santa Clara, Calif. The offensive line crumbled around him at times, especially later in the practice. He missed Samuel on a potentially big play midway through the session. During a red-zone drill, George Kittle broke free and raised his hand to signal he was open but then couldn’t catch up to Lance’s overthrown pass. Overall, Lance was 11-of-18 in team situations with no interceptions.”
Cohn: The Good and Not So Good from Day 1 of the 49ers-Vikings Joint Practices: Trey Lance Cooks
“Completed 11 of 16 passes, and threw zero interceptions, which is most important. The 49ers don’t expect Lance to be a fully-formed, efficient pocket passer right away, but they do expect him to protect the football, unlike the previous starting quarterback, who was an interception machine, and Lance did that today. Lance also made an extremely clutch play on 4th and 10 during a two-minute drill. The Vikings rushed three, Lance scrambled to his right, spotted Deebo Samuel crossing the middle of the field and hit him for a 30-yard gain. So Lance is a game manager AND a play maker... As Lance gets older, he will need to improve from the pocket. Today, he missed a potential big play to Samuel over the middle — Lance sailed the pass. He also missed George Kittle in the end zone for an easy touchdown.”
Branch: New digs, old story: 49ers QB Trey Lance up and down in joint practice (paywall)
“Something that has improved: Lance’s rapport with Samuel, who missed the offseason program and the first three training-camp practices before signing his contract extension....One practice after Samuel had a camp-high five catches, they combined for two mirror-image connections on off-schedule plays. On each snap, Lance was flushed to his right and threw back toward the middle to Samuel, who had settled into a soft spot in the secondary.”
“His touch has gotten a lot better since he first got here,” Kittle said. “I’m pretty sure one of my first five-yard routes he threw it at my head and tried to take my helmet off. Now he’s got some nice touch to it.”
Nick Bosa, 49ers’ pass-rushing savant, sings praises of Kemoko Turay (paywall)
“I think Kemoko jumped off the tape, undoubtedly,” Bosa said. “I think he’s shown that he plays our style of football. And that he’s a game player. Not that he doesn’t show up in practice, but when the lights come on, he shows up even more. It’s something that you can’t really teach. And he’s got that.”
How Womack has made interesting impression on Bosa, Shanahan
“He’s always on the phone, so I don’t really get a read on him,” Bosa deadpanned. “I don’t know if it’s his girlfriend or what, but that guy never gets off his phone. But no, he’s nice. I’ve had a few chats with him. I told him to get off his phone, but he could play for sure. We need guys who can play.”
Donte Whitner can already tell 49ers rookie is going to be a star
“The second one was technical, but it showed me that it’s duplicatable based on the understanding of the defense, [Samuel Womack’s] understanding of leverage and being able to take that from practice to the NFL game field....They tried to sell a shallow route, which usually makes a young guy jump down and try to cut the route off and then he would’ve been wide open across the middle. He shuffled, stayed square, he got his hands on the wide receiver, and then they ask you to get on the inside hip, turn your head around and expect the ball. Perfect technique, executed perfectly, he’s going to be a rising star in this defense.”
“Three weeks into the first training camp with a new starter, these kinds of results, erratic as they may often be, would be a real feat for many teams. The thing that makes the 49ers different is that they were in the Super Bowl three seasons ago and the NFC championship game last season, and they moved on from the quarterback who started both those games with the rest of the roster still very much in a contention window. As the Trey Lance era takes shape in San Francisco, there are early signs that he can indeed give the team what it was missing. It’s just a question of whether they, too, will have to adjust their timing to him.”
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