San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan spoke to reporters on Saturday, after the team's fourth training camp practice. Here is everything he had to say.
Transcript provided by the San Francisco 49ers Communications staff.
Can you fill us in on some of the guys who have been missing practices due to injuries? Anything serious on any of those fronts?
"No real serious ones. [OL Spencer] Burford, actually, is probably the most. He's going to miss a couple weeks, a few weeks possibly. He has a hand issue. We're still kind of making a decision here over the next couple days."
Broken hand?
"Yes."
What about WR Jacob Cowing? He missed some time in the spring too.
"Hamstring."
Is Burford just out there participating in what he can?
"Yeah. We're just trying to decide whether to get surgery on it or not. I know how you guys are with timetables, but guessing around three weeks."
How has OL Dominick Puni done in his opportunity to get some of those first-team reps?
"He's done a real good job. We haven't had pads on yet, which is always a challenge for guys, especially in protection. But he's stepped in there, got more reps and I've been excited about him."
We've seen OL Nick Zakelj get a lot more featured time at center as well. Larger picture, over the couple years has he made a lot of progress?
"He is. And they're all battling for those inside spots and any time, especially when you lose guys in there, you're not having Burford, [OL Jon] Feliciano has missed a little bit of time, and [OL Jake] Brendel will get some time off. He's not out there every single day. So guys have to be able to back up. They have to be able to do center, they have to be able to do guard. They have to know all three."
How is DL Nick Bosa looking and then how do you like the depth at defensive end?
"He looked like Nick, so that's pretty good. And the depth has been great. I've been real excited about it so far. Seems like we've got great depth, seems like we're improving. But it's also four days in, too. I'm excited to get pads on, on Monday.
Is pads basically the start point?
"Pretty much. You try not to make big judgements as a coach until the pads get on, because things get a lot realer when that happens."
What have you seen from DL Leonard Floyd since he's been in the building?
"That he seems just like the guy I've always gone against. Same type of body, same type of athlete. Getting to know him as a person, he is like advertised. I mean, the guy loves football. He's got a hell of a motor, real fun to be around."
How has DL Robert Beal Jr. progressed from year one to year two? Has he bulked up a little bit?
"I think he has a little bit. I think he made some big steps towards the end of last year and he's helped us out on special teams. He's trying to be a part of our group and get in that rotation as a rusher and get better in the run game. But, I've been excited about Robert. He had a good offseason. He's been good in these four days, and we'll see how he goes."
Was today just a day off for DL Javon Hargrave?
"Yeah, planned day off."
TE Logan Thomas, I think year three or four in the NFL, he went from quarterback to tight end. He'd never played tight end ever. How impressive is it to make that pretty rare transition in the NFL?
"I think it's real impressive. I remember studying him as a quarterback coming out, and he was one of the better throwers I thought in the Draft. I never got to work with him or anything, but I just knew he was a real talented quarterback, and he was a good runner, had a good arm and then someone at some time moved him to tight end and he's got the perfect body to play that too and he's had a hell of a career, so felt real fortunate for us to get him here in camp. It's a different offense for him, so he's got a lot on his plate, getting in here late in OTAs and stuff, but he's picking it up and I think he'll get better and better each day."
QB Josh Dobbs had a nice day today. Where is he in knowing the offense and just his learning your system?
"I think he knows it mentally. It's just about going through the reps and the situations and getting a feel for the rhythm of it. Especially with this D-Line in front of him on every play. That's always a challenge of it. You want to get a feel of the offense and everything, but don't expect people to be blocking very well with the second and third group, especially when you don't have pads on. So that's always the biggest challenge for quarterbacks in training camp, especially when you're going with twos or threes. But, I think Dobbs has done a hell of a job for us so far."
We've seen TE Brayden Willis make some nice plays. How is he progressing in year two?
"I've been excited with him. Still only four days in, but showed a couple clips yesterday of him doing a hell of a job in the run game. You guys noticed it in the pass game and see it the same way and hopefully he'll keep taking steps forward."
Run game coordinator/offensive line coach Chris Foerster was talking about one-on-ones and how sometimes, it's frustrating because we will write stuff about who's winning them and guys are trying to work on things. I know it's different, offensive line versus receivers, but what do you make of one-on-ones when those start next week?
"It's good work for people. But one-on-ones are hard for everybody. It doesn't feel quite the same when it's 11 on 11 out there. When you're just in a one-on-one battle, a guy is going to eventually win. Very rarely does someone just get stoned and completely punked in a one-on-one drill, so it always looks like you eventually win. But it's really good work for those guys. It's the reps they need with their hands, the speed of getting off. It's tough when you don't have pads on because when there's not a threat of a bull-rush and things like that, or if they are bull-rushing and they don't have pads, it makes it a lot tougher. So again, I take it more, we won't do that until we have pads. That's one of my favorite things about Monday. We get pads on, and we get to watch those guys. Sometimes in team drills and stuff, someone can have a bunch of catches or things like that or they can get to the quarterback because of some pressures and stuff, and you don't know if it's zone, you don't know what the situation is. But when it's one-on-one you can't hide and you have to really evaluate."
It seems like in the past you if have a young safety coming up, you always have a veteran guy who's been around and has a lot of experience. How do you feel about the safety position as it is right now with S Ji'Ayir Brown and either S Talanoa Hufanga or S George Odum or whomever would you guys look into potentially adding a veteran guy later?
"I feel great about our safeties right now. It'll be real exciting to get Huff back, I think in a week or two. But I think him not being in there, G.O. has really taken advantage of his reps. I think he's playing as good as he is played at the safety level. Ji'Ayir just getting that experience last year, it's helped him out so much. We've got a number of young guys in here which are competing hard. And we do have some older vets here with a lot of knowledge who have played some football, guys like [S] Erik Harris and stuff like that. So we've got a good group. I don't rule out anything as it goes. You never know how to play out. But I feel good about our group, what we got right now."
Does WR Ricky Pearsall have a chance for Monday?
"Yes, he does. It's not guaranteed, but he has a chance."
A week or two for Huf to return to practice?
"I think he's going to get checked up when we go down to L.A. and scrimmage. I think down there is where we kind of will were expecting around that time."
Any update on T Trent William or WR Brandon Aiyuk? Does Aiyuk go to meetings?
"Yeah. He goes to everything except practice. But, no updates on either."
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