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49ers Notebook: Longest practice of training camp, Bourne discusses being on the bubble

By

Jake Hutchinson

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Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images

SANTA CLARA – There wasn’t an exact time on the 49ers’ practice, but it started at the official 10:15 start time (in which drills and sessions are numbered, as opposed to the work that goes on before practice “officially” starts, and ended around 12:15 p.m., a roughly two-hour practice. Most of the previous practices have gone in the roughly hour-and-a-half region.

Why’d practice go so long? Reps. Sweet, tasteful reps of 11-on-11s. 71 reps, to be exact.

Garoppolo decent, Beathard shows out, Mullens has dud

Here’s the split of all those reps by quarterback, and their stats:

Jimmy Garoppolo: 30 snaps, 10-for-17, 1 TD, 1 reception, 1 would-be sack

C.J. Beathard: 19 snaps, 10-for-12, 1 TD, 1 INT

Nick Mullens: 21 snaps, 5-for-12 (5-for-13 if you include one ball spiked after a sack), 1 INT, 3 would-be sacks

After good days from Garoppolo and Mullens and a bad day from Beathard on Thursday, Garoppolo had a decent day, while Mullens and Beathard flipped the script. Below is a brief recap/assessment of how each of their days developed.

Garoppolo: First pass of the day was broken up excellently by Jason Verrett on a comeback to Marquise Goodwin and his first completion came to Ross Dwelley (thrown behind him) over the middle. He completed his next two of three, with a Greg Mabin break-up on a curl to Dante Pettis, featuring Garoppolo avoiding pressure. Kendrick Bourne made a fantastic diving catch on a low throw (more on him below), which fit into a tight window, but still should have had more height, and Trent Taylor followed that with a massive, roughly 40-yard play that Tarvarius Moore prevented from ending up in the end zone.

Pettis dropped a pass later with Mabin again covering him, and Garoppolo had an incompletion on a would-be dual sack by Sheldon Day and Arik Armstead. He connected with George Kittle and missed Tevin Coleman, who was well covered by Fred Warner, on a deep throw, but connected to Coleman for a decent gain on his next throw. He also overthrew Kittle on the ensuing pass, with great coverage by Jaquiski Tartt.

Then, the magic happened. As is policy, detailing plays with specifics and especially trick plays, is not allowed. What can be said is that Dante Pettis threw a pass to Garoppolo, who caught it. It was covered well by D.J. Reed and would not have been a touchdown (Garoppolo was obviously allowed to walk into the end zone untouched). The regular offense resumed immediately after that with Garoppolo’s one TD of the day to Matt Breida at left pylon.

The rest of his afternoon was fairly uneventful, featuring a short pass to Kyle Juszczyk, a would-be sack by Nick Bosa on a play that ended with a completion to Kittle, and the final play of the day, in which Tim Harris Jr. shut down Marquise Goodwin well for an incompletion.

In sum, a decent, if underwhelming day for Garoppolo aside from the catch, which, again, would have been exponentially closer to a potential injury-inducing play than a touchdown if it happened in a game.

Beathard: At one point during Friday’s practice, Beathard was 9-for-9 with 1 TD. His first incompletion followed that touchdown, and after a great catch by Jalen Hurd (his only target of the day) on the penultimate play, Mabin, who was extraordinarily active, deflected Beathard’s final pass, which linebacker David Mayo snagged and return for at least a half-dozen yards.

The only mistake Beathard had on the day was an egregious one, a fumble on a handoff to Raheem Mostert, which Julian Taylor recovered (after bobbling for a concerning period of time). Other than that, his throws were mostly precise, with a good “zip,” if you will, on them, as opposed to some of the nerf ball incompletions he had a day prior.

Mullens: Not a great day for Mullens. He pulled it together at the end, but it was still a woeful day. He got would-be sacked three times, had a horribly underthrown interception – which safety Marcell Harris – caught tenderly like a kickball blooper, and couldn’t complete much after his first pass.

That first pass was perfectly executed, however; a great throw and catch to Pettis. But it was followed (in order) by a sack from D.J. Reed (the spike), an easy pass breakup by safety Tyree Robinson, a swatted ball at the line by Sheldon Day, that easy-as-you-come interception to Harris on a pass thrown well behind Richie James Jr., a very near second interception by cornerback Emmanuel Moseley on a rollout intended for Pettis, a would-be sack and incompletion on a drop by Jordan Matthews, an incompletion to Breida on a pass tipped by Ronald Blair III, and then, finally, a short completion to tight end Niles Paul (who was waived after practice, more on that below), with a great tackle by safety Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles.

Mullens finished with a dump pass to Matthews, an incompletion on a David Mayo pass breakup, a completion thanks to a diving catch by James Jr., and a completed screen. His first pass of the day was his highlight. From there, it was downhill.

Special teams roundup

Special teams coordinator Richard Hightower talked to media Friday about punting, punt returning, kicking – all the salivating topics that 49ers fans have been clamoring to hear about all offseason. There were some interesting bits to come from Hightower, including Dante Pettis’ progression as a punt returner and all the “clubs” in Mitch Wishnowsky’s (who also talked Friday) bag of different punts.

  • On Wishnowsky’s punting ability: Hightower said there were a lot of “oohs and ahhs” from punt returners facing Wishnowsky for the first time on Friday:
    • “You’ll hear guys talk a lot about him having a lot of different clubs in his bag, and he does,” Hightower said. “Meaning that he has a lot of different balls that he can kick. I’m not going to get into the specifics of each ball that he has just because we’ll let our opponents figure that out, but he has balls that he can kick that fall different ways that can give a returner the illusion that it’s going one way and that it will go a different way. So, that’s one thing he’s worked on his whole life and hopefully that will continue to be something that can help us.”
    • Wishowsky said, like Hightower, that there are a number of different punts he has, and believes he’s improving. “Not as consistent as I’d like,” Wishnowsky said. “There’s always one or two punts that I’d like to have back, but I feel like I’m getting better in each practice.”
    • He’s also got some humor to him, criticizing a punt which troubled Pettis yesterday:

  • … and his athleticism:  Hightower is fairly excited about having a 6’2″ punter who ran a 4.63 40-yard dash and a 32.5-inch vertical. Said Hightower:
    • “It fires me up to be honest with you. I’m very fired up about it and I think our team is fired up about it. But again, Mitch has to go and prove that he can do that. He hasn’t punted in a game yet. He’ll get some exposure and be able to punt against Dallas and that’s the next game we have or the first game we have so we’ll see what happens there. And until then we’re working every day.”
    • As for Wishnowsky, he’s equally stoked to run a trick play or few: “I’d love to do it. There’s been a bit of talk about it, but other than that, I’m just worried about hitting good balls.”
  • The punt return group: Pettis figures to take more punts than he did last year, and Hightower said Pettis was a victim of lack of opportunity rather than ineffectiveness. As for the competition to return those punts, it’s, well, competitive:
    • “What I’ve seen from those guys is a fierce competition right now in terms of those guys going out there trying to get it,” Hightower said. “So, we’ve got [WR] Trent [Taylor], like I said we’ve got Dante, we’ve got [DB] D.J. [Reed Jr.], we’ve got [WR] Richie [James Jr.], we’ve got a lot of different guys in there and the fun thing about this is one day one guy does a good job and then the next day the other guy steps up and does the better job and then another guy steps up and does the job.”
  • Blocking, the biggest room for improvement: Hightower said he feels entirely comfortable with who he has in his return groups. The issue is blocking:
    • “What I’m focused on now is the front line and the blocking,” Hightower said. “I want to block, because I know we’ve got guys that can return. That’s not a concern when I go to sleep at night…”
    • “…We’ve got to do a better job blocking. If we can create more space up front, then you’ll see Dante break free, just like you saw Trent do the year before when Trent was in the top 10, he did a heck of a job, too.”
  • Robbie Gould and Wishnowsky, kicking buddies: Wishnowsky said Gould has helped him this offseason, talking to him for the first time when Wishnowsky was in Nashville, Tennessee, after Gould had re-signed. What has he learned?
    • “Lots of stuff, it’s just great having a big-time vet that’s cool-headed,” Wishnowsky said. “The very first thing was, ‘Hey, you go out and have fun. Don’t worry about expectations. Go out and have fun. You’re here for a reason.’ It’s good to have a cool-headed guy always around.”

Kendrick Bourne on Wes Welker, Miles Austin and a “make-or-break” season

Kendrick Bourne might not be a San Francisco 49er in a few weeks. The third-year wide receiver led the 49ers in receiving yards with 487 last season (along with 4 TDs), but he’s facing tremendous competition for a limited number of roster spots. With Marquise Goodwin, Dante Pettis, Deebo Samuel and Jalen Hurd looking like locks to make the 53-man final roster, there will be either two (more likely) or three roster spots available to fight for, with four guys really in the mix: Bourne, Richie James Jr., Jordan Matthews, Trent Taylor.

That means one or two of those guys simply will be cut by the end of training camp. It’s far too early to say who that’s going to be, but Bourne, and undrafted rookie in 2017, is familiar with being on the bubble.

“Same thing as when I came in as an undrafted rookie, kind of the same mindset… knowing how good the room is, it pushes you every day,” Bourne said. “When I go to sleep at night, I think about it… when plays come alive, I just have to make them happen, like I’ve been doing.”

Bourne, who made a superb play on a low pass from Garoppolo today, said that while cut-down day is “really scary,” that fear level won’t be as high this time around.

“Definitely not as scary, definitely more confident,” Bourne said. “I’ve put some good stuff on tape. Whether it’s somewhere else, I’m just going to be the same people.”

That dangerous wide receiving group has had the added benefit of Wes Welker and Miles Austin coaching them. Both made the Pro Bowl in 2009 and 2010 (Welker made the Pro Bowl from 2008-2012), and have a combined 22 years of NFL receiving experience between them. Bourne was clear about the impact it’s had, saying:

“Those guys are big on us. They don’t let us get away with anything, it’s really good. Kind of last year, they would skip certain stuff with film, but with these guys, they really get on us about everything. And it’s really good, though, it keeps us on our toes. The room is already a good room. The competition is crazy, so having them in there, it make it even that much more competitive. It makes it funner, it makes it worth it. You can’t come out there and be lazy, you have to be 100 percent, you have to play through injuries, everything. We’ve got a lot of guys going through little nicks and bangs, right now, but we know what’s on the line. It’s a make-or-break year for a lot of us. It’s exciting. Those guys are very smart… shoot, Wes is a walking legend, so it don’t get no better than that. He gives us really good tips and it’s even stuff off the field, they know everything. Our room is open, so that’s what’s really cool, anything any of us are going through, we tell each other or talk to each other about it. It’s a really good room, so we’ll see how it goes, but those guys are really good.”

Staying on the roster will obviously depend on Bourne proving he’s reliable (he’s made some spectacular plays, but has also made more than a handful of drops), and developing a relationship with the quarterbacks. Bourne said having them “believe in me” is crucial, and he reminded reporters that he’s caught touchdowns from each of them.

There are more questions than answers for those final receiving roster spots, but Bourne is, at the very least, sure in his abilities:

“If the ball comes my way, I’m pretty confident in myself.”

Final Notes: Injuries, additions

  • Injuries: DeForest Buckner remained out of team drills today with a mild toe sprain, as did Dee Ford, who’s dealing with the knee tendinitis which head coach Kyle Shanahan described (as Ford described it to him) something which flares up and goes away every camp; Ahkello Witherspoon participated only in individual drills with a “glute issue”; Kapron Lewis-Moore had a groin issue and did not participate in team drills; Joshua Garnett, Jeff Wilson Jr., Jerick McKinnon and Jimmie Ward remain on the same track as yesterday
  • The team waived tight end Niles Paul and signed tight end Daniel Helm off waivers
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