SANTA CLARA, Calif. — It can go either way, Kyle Shanahan said.
Players entering their second NFL seasons often make the biggest leap they’ll make in their careers. Or they have their worst year.
“They kind of sit back and relax,” he said. “They’re like, ‘All right, I get it now.’ And they don’t realize it, but they don’t go through their offseason the same way they did in getting prepared for the NFL. … That’s why a lot of times you see a sophomore slump.”
The 49ers’ 2022 draft class, for example, didn’t exactly sparkle as sophomores.
Only one of the nine picks — seventh rounder Brock Purdy — was a full-season starter in 2023. The next-most productive members were guard Spencer Burford, who lost his starting job to Jon Feliciano for the playoffs, and defensive end Drake Jackson, who missed the last nine games with a knee injury and hasn’t practiced since.
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Two others from 2022, running back Tyrion Davis-Price and cornerback Tariq Castro-Fields, are no longer on the team. The remaining classmates — receiver Danny Gray, cornerback Samuel Womack III, guard Nick Zakelj and defensive tackle Kalia Davis — are fighting to hold onto roster spots this year.
So where do things stand with the 2023 draft class?
It may not be an across-the-board smash hit, but early indications are that it will be more impactful than its predecessor, at least overall. Here’s a status report on the nine former draft picks entering their second season …
The beginning of Brown’s career has been a lot like Talanoa Hufanga’s in 2021. Hufanga started a handful of games as a rookie that season, which proved to be good preparation for Year 2 in which he started 20 games and made the Pro Bowl.
We’re not guaranteeing a Pro Bowl season for Brown, who started seven games, including the Super Bowl, as a rookie. But he’s been showing the same sort of consistency and command this summer that Hufanga had two years ago. For example, Brown intercepted Purdy twice in Saturday’s practice.
Brown’s taken all of the first-team repetitions at safety since the spring. And he’s unlikely to relinquish that role when Hufanga, who’s coming back from an ACL, returns to practice later this month. When Hufanga is at full strength, he’s expected to start alongside Brown with George Odum becoming the top backup at the position.
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K Jake Moody
He, too, has looked strong in the practices in going 27-of-30 on training camp field goals. Three long ones — 53, 53 and 43 yards — came with Kyle Juszczyk serving as the holder in place of Mitch Wishnowsky.
Moody said recently he feels better than he did a year ago, in large part because his rookie offseason was preceded by a succession of taxing pre-draft workouts.
One of the 49ers’ preseason storylines is how the team will handle the new kickoff rules. Moody will play a big role in that if he’s able to get the ball up and down quickly and create difficult short hops for the returners. He’ll get his first real chance to do that in Saturday’s preseason opener against the Tennessee Titans.
Jake Moody could be a factor with the new kickoff rules with his ability to place kicks where he wants them. (Stan Szeto / USA Today)
This year is essentially a rookie re-do for Latu, who had a forgettable training camp last year, one that was marked by drops and a knee injury that landed him on injured reserve for the season.
The 49ers chose him in the third round because he’s a powerful blocker, someone capable of the inline blocking duties essential to the offense. Latu would have to overtake veteran Eric Saubert to have that role this season, which seems unlikely.
Latu is better than he was a year ago — the drops have diminished — but he probably has too much ground to make up to pass Saubert, who’s been the team’s No. 2 tight thus far. Latu missed Saturday’s practice but was back on Sunday.
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Luter’s been lining up at outside cornerback with the second-team offense since the spring, though he’s been absent the last two sessions. The team has yet to disclose the injury, but it’s not believed to be long term.
The 49ers were encouraged when he first arrived a year ago, raving about his maturity and noting that he has a tall, lanky build that’s similar to Charvarius Ward’s.
Luter, however, suffered a bone bruise on his knee in one of the final OTA sessions last season, which cost him all of training camp. He mainly played special teams when he was fully healthy in November and he is best known to 49ers fans as the guy who was struck on the foot by the ball during a consequential punt in the Super Bowl.
Luter might have a hard time getting defensive snaps this season, too, at a crowded position that includes Ward, Deommodore Lenoir, Isaac Yiadom and Rock Ya-Sin. Still, those four are scheduled for free agency in March. Which is to say, the 49ers are counting on young players like Luter and rookie Renardo Green to step up in future seasons.
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Beal was a bit of a projection coming out of the University of Georgia considering he’d been a 245-pound outside linebacker there and wasn’t an every-game starter.
His rookie season was a lot like Luter’s. He suffered a serious hamstring strain in training camp that kept him off the field until December. His busiest outing came in the Week 18 finale against the Los Angeles Rams when, with both teams’ starters watching from the sideline, he played a season-high 24 snaps and recorded his only sack of 2023.
He added 15 pounds in the offseason to help him better play the run and he has been the team’s No. 4 defensive end so far in training camp.
Though he’s still decidedly behind the top three players at the position — Nick Bosa, Leonard Floyd and Yetur Gross-Matos — the 49ers also think Beal’s combination of size, length and speed (4.48-second 40 at the 2023 NFL Scouting Combine) will help on kickoff coverage. That undoubtedly will factor into which defensive linemen are active on game days.
The 49ers’ top DEs, including Robert Beal Jr. (51), run the arc on Friday. (No Nick Bosa at that practice). pic.twitter.com/Sj8OTvj3OC
— Matt Barrows (@mattbarrows) August 4, 2024
After Brown, Winters might have the best chance for a starting role this season among the second-year players.
As it stands now, a pair of veterans — Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles and Curtis Robinson — are ahead of him at strongside linebacker, which is on the field when the 49ers are in their base package.
But neither has Winters’ upside, and both were held out of Sunday’s practice, giving Winters plenty of repetitions with the first-team group. Teammates have raved about the progress he made during the offseason. Winters said he simply has a better understanding of the defense, which has allowed him to tap into the speed — 4.49 seconds in the 40 — that caught the 49ers’ attention ahead of the 2023 draft.
If the 49ers had to release a depth chart today, Willis likely would be listed as their No. 3 tight end behind George Kittle and Saubert.
He’s in the role Ross Dwelley had in previous season — a “move” tight end who can line up just about everywhere, including at fullback when Juszczyk isn’t on the field.
Willis also has consistently made catches in training camp, including several well down the field. That includes one on Saturday in which he made a sliding catch along the sideline on a throw from Brandon Allen. Allen and Willis also connected on a big gain in Sunday’s session.
Willis’ game-day role likely will hinge on what the 49ers decide to do with Logan Thomas. The eight-year veteran had 55 catches and 496 yards last season. But he’s also 33 and is currently out with a hamstring issue.
Brayden Willis has a shot to earn the No. 3 tight end role. (Mark J. Rebilas / USA Today)
The story of the 49ers’ receivers so far this summer has been how few of them are on the field. Jauan Jennings, Ricky Pearsall, Jacob Cowing, Tay Martin and Malik Turner all have missed at least one practice due to injury while Brandon Aiyuk has missed every session because of a contract dispute.
Bell has been one of the exceptions.
Like Willis, he’s been good for one big catch per practice and also has come down with several difficult grabs in traffic. On Sunday, for example, he made a leaping catch over the middle on a pass from Joshua Dobbs, then was crunched by Ya-Sin. Bell got up slowly but never left the practice.
Along with Trent Taylor and Pearsall, Bell also has been one of the team’s punt returners this summer. He failed to distinguish himself as a returner last season and had a couple of nearly disastrous miscues along the way. Still, the 49ers don’t have a clearcut candidate at either punt or kick returner at this point in training camp.
Graham looks and sounds more ferocious this season. He’s been prominent since the pads have gone as far as “thudding” ball carriers in the middle of the field.
Like last year, Graham mostly has played middle linebacker with the second-team group, something he’d never played before.
“With Jalen, he had never really been in the box in college,” defensive coordinator Nick Sorensen said Sunday. “He was a high school cornerback too. He’s a good athlete, he’s smart. So we’re like, ‘OK, let’s see how he is at Mike.’ And he has handled it well.”
Graham also gets a few snaps per practice at the outside linebacker spots. As was the case with Winters, he got a few snaps next to Fred Warner and De’Vondre Campbell with the first-team defense on Sunday.
(Top photo of Ji’Ayir Brown: Jeff Chiu / Associated Press)
