ESPN’s Theismann and Hoge pick Niners as suprise team for 2007

Twenty NFL teams begin organized team activities (OTAs) today, including the San Francisco 49ers. The Niners will hold workouts on the following dates. May 22-23 May 25 May 30-31 June 2 June 5-6 June 8 The 49ers started their offseason program on April 17. The first two weeks, or Phase One, were limited to meetings, strength and conditioning, and physical rehabilitation. Phase Two included on-field workouts with individual and group instruction and drills. No live contact or team drills were permitted. NFL teams may conduct a total of 10 days of OTAs during Phase Three. San Francisco has nine scheduled. While no live contact is permitted during these sessions, 7-on-7, 9-on-7, and

Head coach Kyle Shanahan has been pleased with what he's seen from Trey Lance during these first two organized team activities (OTAs) practices. The third-year quarterback entered last season as the team's starting quarterback. An ankle injury during Week 2 ended that. Now fully recovered, Lance is looking to prove himself to his coaches. The former No. 3 overall pick has taken all of the first-team reps during these two practices. However, Shanahan warns not to read too much into that. "It'll even out," Shanahan said. "We'll make sure to get that right." A reporter was already asking another question when Shanahan interrupted him to clear up a potential misconception about "first-team reps." "And the first-team is kind of funny because

It's premature to draw conclusions about a quarterback based on practices in May. That is especially true when you do so based on one practice. The San Francisco 49ers started organized team activities (OTAs) this week, and all eyes were on Trey Lance and Sam Darnold. The two players are battling for that QB2 job behind last season's rookie sensation, Brock Purdy. One could even start Week 1 if Purdy is not healthy enough to do so himself. Lance is coming off a season-ending ankle injury but looks completely healthy now. Darnold is trying to turn his career around after never living up to his high draft status. Matt Barrows of The Athletic was on hand for Tuesday's practice, the only one open to reporters so far, and one that Barrows describes as a

Sometimes who is teaching is as important as what is being taught Earlier this week, when the San Francisco 49ers opened up an OTAs session to the media, most of the eyes, in person and online, were on third-year quarterback Trey Lance's new delivery. Lance, of course, had been working with QB guru, Jeff Christensen, and thanks to some leaked footage of Lance throwing with Kansas City Chiefs quarterback, Patrick Mahomes, along with a very well-timed piece by Matt Barrows in The Athletic, there was plenty of