49ers’ Fred Warner wanted a quick rehab from a devastating injury. So he learned how to swim (paywall)
“If you’d asked Fred Warner six months ago whether he knew how to swim, the answer would have been: sort of.
The San Francisco 49ers’ middle linebacker moved through the water like a lot of people who have never had formal lessons — head up, legs down, a lot of splashing, very little efficiency….Steadily, Warner’s head came down, his legs came up and his back straightened. He went from swimming the width of the pool — and having to take breaks in between — to going the full length with few rests. Hopkins said the linebacker was in the pool two days a week for 45 minutes to an hour, including one sequence in which he swam on New Year’s Eve and was back for another session on New Year’s Day.
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His form isn’t perfect yet. Football players have massive quads, which tend to sink. Hopkins mused that “trap bulk” might be the reason Warner’s left arm doesn’t come over as smoothly as his right. And his sheer size makes coming out of the wall — where you have to be as compact and streamlined as possible — difficult. They haven’t really worked on that yet, and the only stroke Warner has mastered is freestyle.
But Hopkins said Warner could now beat some of his swimmers in a short sprint, and that in six months, he became a better swimmer than people who’ve spent their whole lives in the water.
“Our curve was just exponential,” he said. “I wish I would have videoed our starting point. As I told him (recently), he swims better than a lot of Division I water polo players.”
As for the ankle and Warner’s endurance, both benefited greatly from the pool work.”
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Kawakami: How the 49ers managed the calmest offseason of this era (paywall)
“But more broadly, Lynch and Shanahan seemed to have settled some large things about this team and their tenure in the last 12 months.
Because this was not a desperate offseason. This was not a gotta-go-for-it offseason. This was not a save-our-jobs offseason. This absolutely wasn’t a consensus-mock-draft-big-board-please-tell-us-what-to-do offseason.
This was an offseason about full sustainability — Shanahan and Lynch have gotten this team through nine mostly very good seasons, and now they’re pointing to the next four, five, or even nine.”
The 49ers will monitor these 3 positions this season
“It’ll be fascinating to see how Raheem Morris deploys the safeties and if Brown or Sigle, or one of the rookie free agents, steals the show.
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They might be keeping the seat warm for Jessie Bates, who is entering the final year of his contract with Atlanta. A pre- or mid-season trade is something to keep an eye on. If the Falcons start slow, or one of their rookies wins the starting job, Bates could be expendable to them.”
49ers owner Jed York reveals the only NFL Draft pick he ever pushed for
“The only guy that I ever wanted us to draft was [wide receiver] Arnaz Battle,” York said. “I went to school with Arnaz, knew him as a guy. [Otherwise], I try to stay as far away from that as possible.”
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