Your daily San Francisco 49ers news for Monday, April 29th, 2024
Kawakami: Here’s why it’s all about the Brock Purdy timeline for the 49ers now (paywall)
“So now, almost every veteran player knows he’s playing for his contract and his job. That’s always true in the NFL, but after this run of four trips to the NFC Championship Game in five years (and two Super Bowl losses), everything’s amplified for this 49ers roster.
Of course, if the 49ers had a bunch of players who had achieved far less, this wouldn’t feel so abrupt or disruptive. It wouldn’t matter. Who cares about a mediocre team’s roster cleanout? But, of course, if the 49ers had a lesser roster core, Shanahan and Lynch likely wouldn’t be going into their eighth seasons together running this team, anyway, and somebody else would be making these decisions. When you’re good for a half-decade, the bills come due. And everybody’s watching what you do when it happens.”
Branch: 49ers weren’t seeking immediate returns during forward-looking draft (paywall)
“The 49ers had the luxury of drafting with 2025 and beyond in mind. They are the defending NFC champions and are returning 18 of the 22 players who started in their Super Bowl loss to the Chiefs. In addition, some of the four spots at which starters aren’t returning have probably been upgraded: At defensive end, for example, the 49ers signed Leonard Floyd in March to replace Chase Young, last year’s disappointing trade-deadline acquisition.”
“I do like what Lynch & Co. did after that, though. Dominick Puni (86) has the potential to be a starting guard in time,” Kiper wrote. “Snagging Puni keeps the 49ers’ grade out of C territory, though I do think Pearsall will be a good pro.”
49ers are the next stop on Missouri RB Cody Schrader’s long-shot journey (paywall)
“Schrader joined the 49ers’ class of free-agent rookies Saturday when he agreed to terms after he wasn’t selected in the 257-man draft. Schrader, 5-foot-8 and 202 pounds, was bypassed after he ranked third in FBS with 1,627 rushing yards, averaging 5.9 yards a carry, scoring 14 touchdowns and finishing eighth in Heisman Trophy voting. He had 205 rushing yards and 116 receiving yards in a win over Tennessee in November to become the first player in SEC history to have 200 rushing yards and 100 receiving yards in a game.
Schrader, whose time in the 40-yard dash (4.61 seconds) hurt his draft stock, entered the transfer portal after he led Division II in rushing with 2,074 yards in 2021. But he wasn’t offered a Division I scholarship and arrived at Missouri in January 2022 as a walk-on who was seventh on the depth chart.”
“When the 49ers first went on the clock at No. 31 overall, there already had been nine offensive linemen chosen in the draft. Clearly, the 49ers did not believe any starting-caliber tackles still were on the board. The rest of the league apparently agreed, as the next tackle was drafted 25 spots later when Miami selected Houston tackle Patrick Paul at No. 55 overall.”
Bethune details instant connection with 49ers LB coach Holland
“Me and coach Holland, we hit it off like we knew each other for years when I went up there,” Bethune revealed. “Our conversations were just about everything on and off the field. So, just me having that, building that relationship, that fast with him, I felt a good feeling from that point on.”
When asked about the conversations Bethune had with Holland, the linebacker explained they discussed a wide range of things beyond just football-related topics.
“The conversations was literally about everything,” Bethune continued. “Just like sometimes we’d talk about animals and then we’d go back to talking about football and he was just finding out the things that I was interested in, just like fishing. So, I would tell him a lot of stuff that I would like to do during fishing while I was in Miami and Tallahassee. It was just, it was really like we was having a regular conversation, it was nothing specific.”
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