Photo Credit: Chris Mezzavilla
Tuesday was the 49ers’ final practice before their trip to Southern California. On Thursday and Friday, joint practices with the Los Angeles Chargers await ahead of Sunday’s second preseason game.
The 49ers kept it relatively brief, going full speed for shorter than usual, with no reps for either of Josh Rosen or Nate Sudfeld for the second-straight practice. They also canceled a two-minute drill at the end of practice, with a lot of veterans — especially offensive linemen — looking a little gassed. That meant another extended look at Jimmy Garoppolo and Trey Lance. Neither were perfect, nor were they poor; both had moments of brilliance and performed well, for the most part.
Let’s start with “for the most part,” and what went wrong. Garoppolo’s worst was worse than Lance’s. He threw — what I am fairly sure is — his fourth interception to Fred Warner of this camp. It’s comical how many times he’s read Garoppolo.
Oh, and another note on that play; Arden Key reverse pancaked Jaylon Moore, eliciting Supa Hot Fire-esque “Ohhhhh!”-s and disbelieved head-shaking from the defense.
Back to Garoppolo; the other concern is that almost all of these interceptions have been on relatively short patterns, on plays in which defenders read Garoppolo’s eyes and jump the pattern with momentum going in the other direction. That’s to say that when Garoppolo has been picked off, it’s often been with pick-six potential, not on deep, contested catches. He’s getting read and giving up potential momentum-shifting interceptions, as opposed to the arm punt variety.
Garoppolo had at least one other bad throw with a high overthrow over George Kittle. He also overthrew Mohamed Sanu badly, but was pressured.
Lance had three poor throws. One was a screen he threw over JaMycal Hasty. Maybe he thought Wayne Gallman (6-foot-0 to Hasty’s 5-foot-8) was still in? The other two were missed throws towards Jauan Jennings. One was an overthrow, and the other, which was his last throw of practice, was an underthrow.
It came on first down on a move-the-ball drill which had been going well, and after Lance had just run for a first down by design. It was uncharacteristic in that he rolled out of the pocket and left the ball short for Jennings, who had ample space in the end zone if Lance had put more on it. Instead, he had to try and jump forward and fight with a defensive back for it.
The situation was admittedly difficult, with Lance on the run to his right. But given his arm talent and what we’ve seen from him thus far, it was surprising to see him underthrow someone who was open in that fashion.
It was not a play you’d expect Garoppolo to complete, which exemplifies how any criticism of Lance – who, again, is 21, coming from a small school, and has only played a couple quarters of football in roughly two years — operates on a different plane from Garoppolo. You end up criticizing Lance for missing a play because you know he can and should have pulled it off, when it’s something that’s not even on the table for Garoppolo.
As for the good stuff; Garoppolo had an eight-play touchdown drive concluding with a well-placed deep end zone pass to Brandon Aiyuk, who made an impressive catch while leaning and diving for it. He went five-for-five on that drive, finishing the day 13-of-19 with a touchdown and an interception.
Lance, meanwhile, impressed, going 9-for-14 (or 9-for-15 with a possible sack). He ran at least two more plays behind the first-team offensive line, but again, has failed to throw a pass behind that full first team offensive line.
It also wasn’t the full first team offensive line, as Trent Williams was out with knee swelling. Emmanuel Moseley was also out with a hamstring injury.
There were a handful of really enticing plays from Lance; his final completion was a nice bootleg and touch pass over the pressing defensive end, which he completed to tight end MyCole Pruitt.
In situational drills (mostly 2nd- and 3rd-down-and-long situations), Lance was impressive. He moved the chains on three out of four attempts. On his first, he found Brandon Aiyuk in the slot on a short comeback against an overmatched Jared Mayden. On his second, he found Aiyuk again, this time on an easy in over the middle covered by Deommodore Lenoir. On the third, he found, yup, Aiyuk again, also against Lenoir; this one was an out route towards the sideline. Lance converted the next play — on 3rd and 2 — for a first down with an inside zone read.
On Lance’s last situational before move-the-ball, he should’ve converted his best play of the day. He escaped pressure, found time rolling to his right and found… Richie James Jr.
You may have guessed the outcome. James Jr. extended and dropped the ball.
Evidently, Kyle Shanahan is sick of watching that, and is crying out for Nsimba Webster to win that fifth-or-sixth receiver and returner job from James. Webster got an extended run with the first team and more reps in general than in prior days; those were James Jr.’s reps.
Webster hasn’t exactly impressed as a receiver, but at least he’s not dropping passes left and right like James Jr., who at least made one catch on Tuesday. It’s clear that if Webster can show reliability as a returner and at least pretend like he’s played receiver before, he’s got a real chance to win a roster spot.
In other notes from practice, Arik Armstead had a very solid day, wreaking havoc all over the right side and middle of the offensive line. Both Dee Ford and Samson Ebukam participated briefly in 11-on-11s while Jalen Hurd did not. Hurd’s main competitor, Jauan Jennings, continues to practice and perform well, while Hurd watches on.
