The 49ers on Sunday held their final practice before a game week. begins. They’ll have a day off Monday before getting ramped up for their preseason opener at home vs. the Packers on Friday.
Sunday wasn’t the best session for the offense. Let’s dive into some of the reports from Day 10 of training camp:
A very bad Trey
There wasn’t a reporter at camp who didn’t note Lance’s struggles in team drills. The most worrisome aspect of his tough outing is his inaccuracy on throws over the middle. Wagoner mentioned a number of high throws, including a miss to TE Troy Fumagalli that would’ve gone for a big gain. This was a problem for Lance last year, and it’s been an up-and-down experience for him in this year’s camp. Head coach Kyle Shanahan is going to draw up layups in the middle of the field, and Lance has to make sure he’s hitting them or the 49ers offense could really struggle.
Days off
After a long Saturday session, the 49ers gave scheduled days off to tight end George Kittle, left tackle Trent Williams, right tackle Mike McGlinchey, linebacker Dre Greenlaw, linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair and defensive end Samson Ebukam. Cornerback Emmanuel Moseley was also off, but he was on a side field doing some running before practice according to ESPN’s Nick Wagoner. DE Nick Bosa also skipped team drills. There’s nothing too concerning here. Every player in this group is key for San Francisco this year so ensuring they’re fresh and well-maintained heading into the regular season is the priority.
Jeff Wilson sighting
A Jeff Wilson cutback dropped a defender and got a big reaction from his teammates and fans in attendance per the Sacramento Bee’s Chris Biderman. Wilson is certainly in the thick of the hunt for a roster spot. He was largely unused when Elijah Mitchell was healthy last year, but if he’s going to combine some open-field elusiveness with his hard-nosed running style he should stick on the roster and carve out some kind of offensive role.
Cornerback depth wrinkle
With Moseley sidelined, it was Deommodore Lenoir, not Ambry Thomas rolling with the first-team defense per Matt Barrows of the Athhletic. This doesn’t necessarily signal a sweeping change on San Francisco’s depth chart, but it’s definitely interesting. Lenoir struggled mightily as a rookie, and Thomas eventually overtook him on the depth chart and played a lot to close the year when injuries stacked up in the 49ers’ secondary. There could be a little bit of a battle going on between Lenoir and Thomas to be the first cornerback off the bench. This will be an intriguing aspect of preseason games to see which player enters the game first, who plays better, and which one plays more.
Don't sleep on McCloud
The 49ers added wide receiver Ray-Ray McCloud this offseason in part for his kick return abilities. He’s come up enough on the offensive side though that we might see him carve out a real role there. Jauan Jennings was the presumed WR3 going into camp, but McCloud doing things like an “acrobatic one-handed grab” down the field makes it seem like there’s a play-making element to his game as a receiver that San Francisco could tap into. Keep a close eye on McCloud when he plays on offense in preseason games.
