I was watching two more of our opponents play on Monday Night Football, and I feel even more confident in predicting that the 49ers will beat the Broncos in week 4… and slightly less confident that we can beat the Chiefs in week 16. Denver’s ILB Alex Singleton had 5 missed tackles, so not only is he a liability in the passing game, he’s also struggling in his supposed strong suit. On offense, the only player making anything happen was the TE Evan Engram (with some decent pop from RJ Harvey in the run game). That tells me that Kansas City’s linebackers are still gettable, so George Kittle and the two-headed rushing attack will be especially important come December.
Where 49ers rookie Kaelon Black aims to improve after impressive Week 1 debut
“He runs hard,” McKivitz said of Black, “and I have the bruises on my back to prove it.”
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Black, a star last season on Indiana’s national championship team, has made a great impression on his veteran teammates. It is easy to see why the 49ers selected him in the third round of the 2026 NFL Draft with the No. 90 overall selection.
But he has left his mark in more ways than one.
“When you got a young back who’s ready to run hard and doesn’t question himself, that’s what we look for in this offense,” McKivitz said. “When he sees a hole, he hits it.
“He reminds me a little of JP (Jordan Mason) but with a little more juice. It’s nice to have a guy like that. He’ll learn some things. Hopefully, he’ll open his eyes and not run into me. But it’s exciting to have a guy like that.”
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….”I heard them, and I feel so bad,” Black said. “I told them, ‘Sorry,’ multiple, multiple times. I’m just so down hill. I’m trying to grind out as many yards as I can. Sometimes it happens. But it’s definitely something I can be better at.”
11 Winners from the 49ers’ blowout win over the Rams
“Sumer Sports tracks impact plays for offensive linemen, and the Niners had three players in the top 45 in Week 1:
(6th) Connor Colby – 5
(13th) Jake Brendel – 4
(36th) Trent Williams – 3
Impact plays are defined as “highlight plays where a player demonstrates exceptional execution relative to their role and alignment.”
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During Colby’s five, he displaced the defender he was blocking by multiple yards.
…One of the few bright spots on defense toward the end of the season last year was Stout. He was third on the team in impact plays with four. Stout’s IQ was on full display. He had a quarterback hit, a run stop where he recognized what was coming before the ball was snapped, and only allowed three yards in coverage on three targets.”
49ers named trade fit for Steelers CB Joey Porter Jr. by ESPN insider
“The 49ers’ cornerback rotation looked stout Thursday against the Los Angeles Rams, but seasons are long, and Porter would help the defense immensely,” Fowler wrote.
“San Francisco has eight draft picks in 2027 and around $45 million in cap space. Porter opposite Deommodore Lenoir would form a stout 1-2 cornerback combo.”
Kawakami: Why there are so many weird takes on the 49ers (and why they don’t care) (paywall)
“The big-picture point, though, is that the 49ers are structurally different with Marathe gone and York on the sidelines. And I think the 49ers will act in a subtly different way through this season — with a very big emphasis on what might happen at the trade deadline and then again after the season when some more big negotiations come up.
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We know that York recently moved back to Ohio, we can guess he’s likely to get a fairly long suspension (six months seems to be the best supposition) that will officially take him off the board, and we know that he used to be in team HQ all of the time, discussing plans with Lynch and Shanahan and everybody else. He’s not doing that now. He might not do it for a long time.
I’ll also note that York’s been very protective of his image, which is a main reason he’s had such good relationships with national reporters. York likes to believe he’s the most knowledgeable and smartest guy in any conversation, and I imagine it’s been tough to know that the video of his arrest and his mug shot will flash into everybody’s minds whenever his name comes up.
During owners’ meetings. Around employees. Whenever he shows up to games in the future. Or just in the community at any time.…..
….And it’ll likely be months before York is a major part of the 49ers’ decision-making process. Marathe is gone, too.
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Until now, those were the two hard-liners in the 49ers’ negotiating process. Think of the acid 2022 Deebo Samuel talks. The times Marathe almost traded Brandon Aiyuk in 2024. The laughable leaks about possibly cutting or trading Trent Williams last spring. All the big negotiations that pushed into training camp and beyond.
Who was orchestrating all this? Every time I asked somebody who’d know, I was told: Marathe and York.
There’s a chance that new CEO Al Guido will become the new negotiating hawk in this franchise, but I don’t think that’s his style. I think Shanahan and Lynch have always had a lot of freedom to make moves, but without York and Marathe on site, there might not be anybody who has or would want veto power over them.
And I think Shanahan and Lynch will avoid overplaying their hand, but I also believe they’ll get swift approval for any potential big move in the next few months. A trade for a veteran defensive lineman — say, old friend DeForest Buckner? — as a finishing move for a playoff run, even if it adds a big salary to the payroll? Who says no?”
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Fred Warner reveals sports psychologist’s advice that ‘saved’ his NFL career
“My fourth year, I was coming off my first All-Pro, my first Pro Bowl, a new deal,” Warner explained. “I wasn’t quite right with my body. My knee was kind of bothering me a little bit.”
The BYU alum individually finished with 79 solo tackles, five tackles for loss, three interceptions, and one sack in 2020. After a historic season, something changed heading into Year 4.
“I went into that camp, and I wasn’t performing like I was supposed to,” Warner admitted. “I remember I went into that season and I was thrown off the whole year. I started letting that outside noise fester in my brain a lot. It took me reaching out to a sports psychologist that I followed on Twitter.”
In 2019, the NFL instituted a mandate that all teams employ a part-time behavioral and mental health clinician. Warner proactively found help on his own through social media.
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“Jim Renfro … I still haven’t even met him to this day,” Warner stated. “It was all over the phone. We talked through things. He told me, ‘You’re the lion, at the end of the day. Sometimes the Lion doesn’t get the kill. That doesn’t mean that they’re not a Lion.’ “
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