SANTA CLARA — Four days of preliminaries are over, as mandated by the collective bargaining agreement which requires an acclamation period before contact begins.
Trent Williams or no Trent Williams, Brandon Aiyuk or no Brandon Aiyuk, the 49ers hold their first padded practice Monday after taking a day off.
That means the process of gathering information by coach Kyle Shanahan and his staff can begin in earnest for reassembling the defending NFC champions.
“You try not to make big adjustments as a coach until the pads get on, because things get a lot realer when that happens,” Shanahan said Saturday.
The days of double-day practices are long gone since the 2011 Collective Bargaining Agreement. The Oklahoma pit drill his history. Players are lectured beforehand about tackling to the ground and will be be openly chastised when it happens.
Yes, it’s more humane and better in terms of health both in the short term and the long term. But there will still be collisions between offensive and defensive linemen and physical press coverage among the back seven.
Offensive and defensive linemen will go against each other one-on-one, as will receivers and defensive backs. Each instance will be filmed and evaluated. And their progress whether positive or negative may be very different than what the media is concluding along the sideline.
It’s a pet peeve of offensive line coach/run game coordinator Chris Foerster that amateurs (in this case the media) will be assigning their own values for consumption by players and the fan base. He’s felt that way since running the offense of the Miami Dolphins in 2004.
Players would see a tally of “wins” and losses” in the morning paper of one-on-one drills and be unhappy about the results. Now it’s on web sites and social media.
“The guys were furious,” Foerster said. “If I threw somebody in there for three extra reps and said, `Hey, you need to work on X, Y And Z and they’d get beat, they were yelling. It was ugly.”
Foerster’s point? He wants offensive linemen to be working on areas of weakness. So naturally, when practicing what they don’t do best, it will look as if they’re getting dominated when in reality it’s all part of the plan to get better at that weakness.
“They get pounded for awhile because they don’t get it,” Foerster said. “So they say, I have to survive the drill now.' Don't survive the drill, get better . . . people will keep track of, `oh, (Nick) Bosa beat Trent (Williams), or Arik Armstead killed this guy, or Aaron Banks can’t block anyone in one-on-ones.
“And you know, some guys aren’t very good in one-on-ones, but within the setting of an offense or protection, they do a heck of a job.”
Shanahan gets it, but isn’t overly concerned about outside perception when it comes to getting players better.
“When you’re in a one-on-one battle, a guy is eventually going to win,” Shanahan said. “Very rarely does someone just get stoned and completely punked in a one-on-one drill so it always looks like eventually you 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 there’s not a threat of a bull rush and things like that.”
Padded practices, even without tackling to the ground, will give a better indication of progress on both sides of the ball against both run and pass. Offensive lineman will be infighting with their hands, defensive linemen attempting to knock them away. Proper angles will be preached and every inch accounted for.
Center Jake Brendel believes padding up allows offensive linemen to push themselves in terms of game-day technique that is forbidden in non-padded practices.
“Pads to us, gives os a steering wheel, stuff to hang on to, makes our jobs easier,” Brendel said. “I’m not saying we hold on every play, but stuff is definitely happening. To go full speed and get full speed reps will be good.”
Middle linebacker Fred Warner works himself into an emotional state for every practice, padded or not, setting aside the pain of pushing himself to the the limit.
“It’s brutal. You know on order to get where you want, it’s got to hurt, point blank, period,” Warner said. “If it doesn’t, that means you’re not doing it hard enough, you’re not doing it right. it’s got to be physical. You’re going to be tired. If we’re doing that better than the other 32 teams it’s going to give us the best chance to win on Sundays.”
It also means tempers will flare and there could be a skirmish or two. Warner has been known to lay out an offensive teammate or two in the early going to jump-shart the intensity. He and Brendel have already been doing some good-natured jawing.
“Me and Jake are always battling one-on-one, seeing who can get to point A to point B quicker,” Warner said after the first practice.
Brendel smiled and said he was looking forward to it.
“You have to be vocal back when it’s the proper time,” Brendel said. “Any time there’s a first down, I make sure he knows it. Little jabs here and there.”
