The 49ers on Tuesday finished up their home practices for the week. They’ll take Wednesday off before opening a pair of joint practices with the Raiders on Thursday. Those two clubs will match up at Allegiant Stadium on Sunday for the preseason opener.
It wasn’t a very long day with a heavy workload after a lengthy Monday session, but there were a handful of interesting nuggets that came out from reporters at camp.
Nothing new or substantial happened with the QBs, so we left the QB stuff out. Brock Purdy is still the starter and took all the starting reps. Trey Lance and Sam Darnold are still splitting the second-team reps and in a race for the backup job. That didn’t change at all Tuesday.
Let’s run through the rest:
Jake Moody is still good
Rookie Jake Moody kicked two 60-yard field goals during practice today without a miss.
— Matt Maiocco (@MaioccoNBCS) August 8, 2023
The rookie kicker has been extremely impressive in camp with no bad misses, and now he’s starting to show off a big-time leg. Drilling a pair of 60-yard field goals is a good sign that Moody’s arrow is continuing to point up. If he’s comfortable from 60 yards out in game settings it would be a significant shift in how the 49ers special teams can help out their offense.
Drops ahoy
49ers QB numbers will be modest today, but there were a lot of drops, including:
– 2 Cameron Latu
– 1 Willie Snead
– 1 Chris Conley
– 1 Ronnie Bell— Matt Barrows (@mattbarrows) August 8, 2023
Drops were substantial enough Tuesday that virtually every 49ers beat reporter mentioned them. Reports varied on who those drops belong to, but the fact Latu had a pair isn’t a great sign for the third-round pick. The 49ers need a TE who can impact the game as a receiver and the hope is that Latu continues the ascension he was on during his last two years at Alabama. Two drops in a practice isn’t the end of the world, but it’s something worth keeping an eye on.
Interception firsts
We saw Sam Darnold throw his first INT of 49ers' training camp today, although some might classify it as a sack for Daelin Hayes. Darnold continued rolling out after Hayes touched him and heaved a ball downfield for Ray-Ray McCloud which rookie Ji'Ayir Brown intercepted
— David Lombardi (@LombardiHimself) August 8, 2023
Sam Darnold finally threw an interception on the 11th practice of training camp, and rookie safety Ji’Ayir Brown came down with it for his first interception of training camp. This is a good example of why training camp stats are tough for QBs because the play would’ve likely been dead in a live setting, but Darnold played it out and Brown took advantage. Limiting interceptions will be a big in-game key for Darnold. Conversely, creating turnovers will be a big in-game key for Brown.
Veteran defenders shining
ESPN’s Nick Wagoner noted a trio of veterans have been standing out in camp and continued to do so Tuesday. Cornerback Charvarius Ward, defensive tackle Arik Armstead and defensive tackle Javon Hargrave all stood out with splash plays on Day 11 of camp. While those are supposed to be some of the 49ers best players, the fact they’re already playing at a high level and dominating in practices should put them in position to hit the ground running and help San Francisco get out to the fast start that’s eluded them the last two seasons.
