Golden Nuggets: How Richard Sherman helped Deommodore Lenoir

Logan’s legacy: 49ers star Christian McCaffrey and the young fan who inspired his hero (paywall)

“At around this time, McCaffrey, through his marketing agents, received word from the Hale family that a young fan of his was suffering from cancer. He promptly recorded a video and sent it Logan’s way. It arrived on Dec. 26, Logan’s 13th birthday.

He was unconscious by that point, but Bylko Hale said her son’s reaction to McCaffrey’s video sent tremors through the room.

“When I played it for him, there was no movement, but tears ran down his cheeks,” Bylko Hale said. “It wasn’t like two tears — tears were rolling down his face. I got a nurse and she just stood there, shocked.

“I hugged him and I said, ‘That is your hero. He’s rooting for you, sweetheart.’”

Doctors said that Logan’s brain activity rapidly diminished past that moment, to the point where he almost certainly couldn’t process any communication that came after it. He was officially pronounced dead on Dec. 30.

“Those were really the last signs of life that we saw,” Bylko Hale said. “I think the last words he heard were from Christian McCaffrey.”

Days later, Logan was buried in a McCaffrey jersey....

As he labored through chemotherapy, Logan had embarked on a mission to provide pediatric hospitals with video game consoles so young patients could stay connected with their friends, even during the isolation of treatment. Bylko Hale said the idea was born when Logan entered the hospital’s video game room and noticed several children waiting for an opportunity to play. Logan didn’t need to wait in those lines for long because a family friend gifted him a gaming system for his room....On June 3, The Logan Project — an initiative of The Christian McCaffrey Foundation that raises money to fulfill Hale’s wish — hosted the inaugural Logan Bowl, a Madden tournament between NFL players streamed live on Twitch.”

49ers’ George Kittle on what makes “weirdo” Christian McCaffrey “one of a kind”

“Man, McCaffrey is one of a kind,” Kittle said Tuesday on NFL Network’s Good Morning Football. “Just being able to be in a locker next to him, being able to block for him, see his mindset every single day in the locker room, on the practice field, how he takes care of his body. He is a professional. Everything he does is to set him up for success on the football field, and you love to be around guys like that.

“You love guys with that mindset. It is infectious. Other guys watch that mindset. They watch how he prepares. They watch how he does his own thing. They watch the time he commits to everything, the film he watches. And so everything he brings to the table is positive for the Niners.

“And it turns out, at the end of the day, he’s also funny, and he’s a great dude. And so he fits our locker perfectly well. And he’s also a weirdo, just like me, which means you’re usually a good football player.”

Steve Wilks will bring subtle tweaks, not wholesale changes to 49ers defense

“Beyond finding ways to add to what the Niners do, Wilks’ task this spring has been catching up on all the Niners have done defensively over the past six-plus years. Wilks has access to every piece of game and practice tape and can even watch every defensive meeting the team has held through that period....As the 49ers opened organized team activities in late May, Wilks could be seen bouncing around the practice field with a similar energy to Ryans and Saleh. Wilks plans to call the defense from the coach’s box, noting that he sometimes gets too excited on the sideline. Reminded that Ryans and Saleh had a similar proclivity for fiery reactions, Wilks chuckles and notes that he could always change his mind.”

49ers’ Trey Lance, Sam Darnold among “plethora” of QBs to throw at TEU

“Forty girlfriends and wives are coming too, so that’s pretty awesome that we have this huge umbrella that we can support everybody [attending],” Kittle said Tuesday on NFL Network’s Good Morning Football. “We have multiple quarterbacks coming from Josh Allen to Trey Lance, [Jaguars QB] C.J. Beathard, [Vikings QB] Nick Mullens, Sam Darnold. We have a plethora of guys. [XFL QB] Kurt Benkert, I think, is coming too. So we have guys coming in through that.”

Offseason changes cause 49ers O-line to fall in PFF rankings

“If it wasn’t for Trent Williams, this line would be a concerning group on paper,” wrote Monson. “It still may need to lean on Kyle Shanahan’s offense to put some gloss on its performances.”

How Sherman’s simple message helped elevate Lenoir’s football IQ

“Before I even met my high school coach, Richard Sherman was already one of my favorite corners just because he talked trash and he’d back it up,” Lenoir told Maiocco. “So when I met [my coach] and then he told me his relationship with Sherm, it was like a no-brainer. I just had to meet him and stuff, just pick his brain, because my whole life, I was always just athletic playing the position...I never had technique or tools or even knew certain situations, so just talking to him and talking football, it just made my IQ even stronger.”