Golden Nuggets: less than a month til the draft

Your daily San Francisco 49ers news for Thursday, March 28th, 2024

York, 49ers bracing for inevitable Purdy contract extension

“I think it’s a good problem when your quarterback is one of your highest-paid guys on your team and in the league,” 49ers CEO Jed York said Tuesday when NBC Sports Bay Area asked about Purdy’s future contract at the NFL Annual Meeting. “So, there’s a lot of planning that goes into it.”

49ers’ Jed York prepared to open vault for Brock Purdy’s looming payday (paywall)

“York commiserated with Collinsworth on Monday night during a party at the NFL owners’ meetings.

“I used to dig him a little bit when he would have a negative 49ers tone,” York said. “It’s like, ‘I get it: ‘You lost to Joe Montana twice.’ (I told him) ‘I have a much better understanding of how you feel today.’ They had great teams, but they didn’t get over the hump.”

York shares reason for shift in 49ers’ principal ownership

“York said observing the problems other NFL families have experienced with their succession plans inspired his family to avoid the possibility that the reading of a will would determine the future ownership of the franchise.

“We thought it was a better process to transition into it smoothly,” York said. “Being a very close family, I don’t ever anticipate any problems with my family. But it’s an easier, smoother transition to make sure that this team stays in our family.”

How one motion play swept through the NFL in 2023: ‘Everybody is copying it’ (paywall)

“At the end of the 2023 season, some version of the short out motion was in the playbooks of most, if not all, teams that frequently utilized pre-snap motion. “We call it ‘cheat’ because it’s cheating,” Shanahan said in September. “It’s cool to get ’em running sideways, and still hit it vertically.”

In football, ideas form in one building, are borrowed by another and continue to evolve based on a team’s personnel and staff. Some concepts are solved by scheme; others are “unsolvable” because of the abilities of the players who run them. With the help of technology and a generation of coaches and players driven toward innovation, that cycle happens faster than ever.

Hill’s speed brought Miami’s version of “cheat” to life. He could run any type of route out of it, including the in-breakers that capitalized on recently vacated space in the middle of the field.

Nobody else had Hill, but everybody else wanted to see if they could apply the motion, and variations of it, to players with different skill sets. Even players without elite speed could get open off the line of scrimmage when running this short out motion because it can open up space behind another offensive player — a “rub” — nearly simultaneously with the snap.”

Shanahan appreciates Staley’s immediate impact in new 49ers role

“Nick is going to call the plays,” Shanahan said. “Nick will be a huge part of the game planning and doing everything on that side of the ball, and helping me out in other areas also. Brandon will be a big part of the game plans, implementing a lot of our defense here in the offseason and during each week, preparing for teams….He’s been a big part of free agency already,” Shanahan said. “Helped us with the draft and he’ll be a huge asset to the whole coaching staff. Once we start practice and go through OTAs, just have another guy’s expertise, who knows a lot of ball, he’s run a number of schemes.”

49ers to host Oregon DE Brandon Dorlus on pre-draft visit

“Dorlus is a fairly natural edge defender who can play standing or with a hand down. He doesn’t play with desired instincts or awareness in the run game but has the upper-body power to become a more forceful edge-setter or interior penetrator in the future. He shows an impressive ability to slide and slap his way around blockers for quick wins, even though the sack total fails to show it.”

A role for every 49ers pick in ESPN 7-round mock draft

“Morgan might be a little bit of a reach at the end of the first round, but he’s a quality player who should be able to start either right tackle or guard right away. Ideally he’d play OT, but San Francisco will take the versatility for some flexibility when it comes to building their offensive line.”