Sunday was day four of training camp. Thankfully, it was the last day before pads come on. It’s unwise to put too much stock into unpadded practices, but with the first red zone drills of camp on offer, there were some notable moments.
Quarterbacks find the end zone
Brock Purdy had his scheduled off day on Sunday. Here’s a look at how the other three quarterbacks performed.
Trey Lance took 17 reps, one more than Sam Darnold, which evened out the discrepancy from Friday. He connected with George Kittle on a nice ball in a closing window down the left side in his first series — a series which had opened with a false start from Colton McKivitz and a blown-up run by Drake Jackson and Fred Warner.
When they moved to the red zone, Lance had a couple completions that were intelligent, but didn’t make it in for scores. He nearly threw to Ronnie Bell over the middle on the last rep of his second series, but saw pressure, escaped the pocket to his left and ran it in. He clearly had enough speed to get there but as has been apparent in his career, he does not have elite acceleration or get away speed, especially laterally.
His third series featured a fumbled exchange which looked to be on center Jake Brendel, and his last rep, a short completion, was rendered moot by a false start from Dazz Newsome. An incredible defense play came in this series. That’s at the bottom of this piece.
They returned to the red zone for one final series, and Lance hit Chris Conley on time for a touchdown, splitting coverage. Lance followed up with an ugly overthrow of Deebo Samuel on a play action boot to his right and finished by getting swatted at the line by Kerry Hyder Jr.
Sam Darnold took 16 reps, one fewer than Lance. He took what would have been a clear sack from Kevin Givens on his first series before getting going.
In the red zone, he threw an absolute dart of a touchdown to Aiyuk over the middle against Ambry Thomas. He had a bad throw to George Kittle to his right a couple plays later. But on his last rep, Darnold escaped a closing pocket and once again found Aiyuk against Thomas for a touchdown in the far right corner of the end zone.
He found Aiyuk once more outside of the red zone for a clear touchdown. Aiyuk cooked his defender and got downfield blocking for a 60-plus-yard touchdown. Deebo Samuel did basically the same thing to A.J. Parker a play later, though it didn’t end in a score.
Darnold’s last series featured a screen to Samuel that may or may not have been a touchdown, before throwing high and incomplete to Jauan Jennings.
Brandon Allen took eight reps, getting two in each period. He found Isaiah Winstead wide open in his first series while stepping up from pressure to his right by Darryl Johnson.
In his first red zone series, he found, you guessed it, Aiyuk. It was an absolute dart of a throw, fit between three defenders. He missed a near touchdown to Brayden Willis to the left on a low throw. Willis nearly held on spectacularly against Myles Hartsfield, but couldn’t avoid hitting the ground with the ball.
He later missed Tay Martin on a deep, underthrown ball, with Tre Swilling in coverage.
Allen finished the day on a brilliant note, receiving a scudded snap that he plucked off the ground and quickly delivered to the front right pylon, where Ray-Ray McCloud toe-tapped his way into the end zone for a touchdown.
Brandon Aiyuk is wreaking havoc
If you read the last section, this is no surprise.
Aiyuk has looked like the best player in camp thus far. Now, part of that has to do with the fact that there are no pads on. It’s tough for linemen to show out without getting one-on-ones and being able to really cut loose.
The same thing is true for running backs and defensive backs, who don’t get a chance to shut down throws in one-on-ones yet, either.
But. But! Aiyuk is cooking.
He had three touchdowns in the red zone period alone, and another when he was the first long touchdown reception of camp.
He’s in fantastic shape, has dominated the catch point by attacking any potential 50-50 balls in the air, and told reporters Sunday that he’s prioritizing making catches on go balls. His route running is phenomenal. It’s hard to fathom this not being an even better season for Aiyuk than the last.
Unexpected play of the day
This play came in Lance’s third series and was probably the most entertaining play of the day.
There’s so much to try and glean from each play that keeping track of players, especially through an occasional wall of people on the sideline, is difficult. What that means is sometimes you look up and find yourself surprised at who’s covering who.
That happened in spectacular fashion Sunday, when Lance threw up a pretty enticing ball to Elijah Mitchell on a wheel route.
But Mitchell, notoriously fast, wasn’t separating. In lock step with him was Drake Jackson. Jackson had to peel and cover Mitchell because of an inside linebacker blitz — something the 49ers have been open about wanting to do more of this season — and he did a phenomenal job.
The ball looked like it was on a trajectory for Mitchell, who didn’t appear to slow down. Instead, it bounced off Jackson’s helmet and shoulder pad. He broke it up, then swung and planted an imaginary flag, getting hype from the entire defense on his way back to the sideline.
Jackson told reporters Sunday that he feels significantly better physically and mentally than he did last season. He remained in Santa Clara in the offseason to work on his body and said he’s put on more muscle. Dre Greenlaw attested to that work, saying it was evident that Jackson “wants it,” this season.
While one pass coverage play in unpadded practices does not make a season, let alone a career, it was an eye-catching display of Jackson’s athleticism. He’s looked encouraging so far in camp. The pads will tell more of where he’s at.