Photo Credit: Chris Mezzavilla
We got into the weeds on Thursday, as the second day of training camp featured some COVID-19 vaccine talk, the in-person debut of the 49ers’ fresh-faced coordinators, and a rapid-fire media session with the franchise’s quarterback of the future.
Verrett, Bosa ‘evaluating’ vaccine, while Mostert explains how it’s changed his life
On Monday, general manager John Lynch said he believed the 49ers players were more than 90 percent vaccinated, so it was inevitable that some players would reveal they had not gotten the shot. The NFL has heavily incentivized players to get vaccinated, incorporating a rule that if any games must be canceled due to COVID-19 outbreaks among non-vaccinated players and/or staff, that team will forfeit the game.
It appears Nick Bosa and Jason Verrett are among two players who have not received the vaccine. Verrett did not explicitly state his decision, but was wearing a mask to the podium and all but confirmed he has to follow league protocols which require non-vaccinated players to remain masked at almost times in which they are not actively playing football. He and Bosa have thus far been the only two players or coaches to be masked in their podium availability.
“That’s just something that we’re still kind of working through,” Verrett said, when asked about his vaccination status. “That’s all I can answer.”
Bosa, meanwhile, said he’s still assessing his options and indicated he hasn’t decided if he’ll get the vaccine.
“I’m just evaluating everything right now,” Bosa said. “I haven’t made a decision, just following the protocols. We’ll see where it goes.”
Nick Bosa, wearing a mask, indicates he has not been vaccinated and is “evaluating” his options (via @hutchdiesel)
— KNBR (@KNBR) July 29, 2021
Raheem Mostert left no such doubt. He arrived at the podium with massive grin, no mask, and immediately confirmed that he had received the vaccine.
Mostert is a man who wears his emotions on his sleeves, in the most earnest and endearing sense. When he’s feeling down, he’ll tell you. He’s refreshingly open for a football player — let alone any athlete — in discussing how he’s feeling.
He revealed last year that he and his wife, Devon, had tearful nights at home before Raheem went to camp. They were fearful for his safety, and distraught over when and how they’d be able to see each other.
He had to make the decision to show up to camp and play the season knowing that at some point in September, his second child would be due, and truly without any idea if he’d be able to attend their birth. Raheem said he left the decision to his wife and what she felt comfortable with. Due to a bye week in West Virginia and some assistance from the Cleveland Browns, Mostert, thankfully, was able to fly home to Cleveland for the birth of his second son, Neeko.
But the vast majority of last year was brutal, with Mostert saying Thursday that he was in a bad place.
“Last year I was in a dark, dark spot,” Mostert said. “Dealing with injury and and coming back that Rams game and I showed a little bit of emotion just because my family wasn’t there with me through the process. I had my brothers (teammates) and the coaching staff and organization but when it comes down to your inner family — if you have kids, then you understand. So for me, having my family out here, they actually flew out here when I came out here. I was able to get them out here with me the same day and we moved into our house. I’m thrilled. I can’t be more happy and excited to get back to ball and focus on what I got to do on the field and then going home to my little boys and my wife.”
Given how suddenly the NFL season came into focus last season and the lack of contact reporters had with players, it was tough to get a real picture of what went on behind the scenes. Right tackle Mike McGlinchey told KNBR this offseason that when the team was unceremoniously booted from Santa Clara by decision-makers in the county, and forced to go to Arizona, players were legitimately on lockdown. They were confined to their hotel rooms in Arizona for the remainder of the season, with their only reprieve to go play football, in a season which quickly unraveled.
Now the 49ers can get back to some sense of normalcy, and the vaccine is the clearest route towards that. It provided Mostert the piece of mind to live with his family again, explaining that he got the shot for his sons.
“I did it; the sole reason is because I have two young boys I want to look after the best way I possibly can,” Mostert said. “I’m a family man. I’m very family oriented as you all know, so I try to do everything in my power to make sure that I’m giving them the best opportunity.”
Trey Lance’s early acclimation
There is an abundance of information and new stimuli which all rookies have to face, but that’s ratcheted up to a completely different level for rookie quarterbacks, let alone those expected to be the face of the franchise. The 49ers spent much of OTAs working with Lance on fine-tuning some technical aspects of his game.
It’s a time Shanahan said is used for seeing how much rookies can soak in before players are sent away for 40 days until training camp.
“Then they come back to training camp and you see what you really got,” Shanahan said May 25.
What has been apparent is that there’s a lot less of the 49ers’ coaching staff sort of huddling around Lance working on technical aspects of his game with specific one-on-one drills, at least during open practice. They will surely be picking and chiseling at his delivery and footwork for years to come, but the training wheels are clearly off.
Offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel said it’s been apparent that Lance’s mind is freer at this juncture.
“Definitely a little more at ease,” McDaniel said. “I will say that if the technique was that easy, everyone would be doing it. So you can’t really say that, ‘Oh yeah, we’re totally satisfied with anything because then our expectations and our goals wouldn’t be that high.’ But you can tell that he’s able to focus on more of the nuts and bolts of the position, because he’s getting familiar with this new foreign language that was just introduced to him a couple of months ago.”
McDaniel, in his first in-person press conference as an offensive coordinator, made note of the same thing Kyle Shanahan did earlier this week; that the work Trey Lance put in during his 40 days away is apparent to everyone.
That was obvious enough from the Instagram photos of Lance working out with teammates Brandon Aiyuk and Mohamed Sanu, but it’s been noticed in the early days by those who didn’t work with him over the summer. McDaniel, a la 2 Chainz and Ty Dolla Sign, said teammates can feel that work without having to talk about it; it’s a vibe.
“Not explicit, it’s a vibe,” McDaniel said. “You can tell. You can tell by the cadence with people positively reinforce a play, how fast people tell a guy ‘good throw.’ Just their energy. It’s not really explicit. It’s more something to kind of get a feel and a vibe for.”
For his part, Lance impressed again on Thursday, completing six passes in a row at one point, including chunk gains and a nice sideline throw and catch to Aiyuk.
Bosa’s recovery and expectations
Vaccine aside, Bosa is very much present and looking like the player he did in 2019 and entering 2020. He’s a man who was built to be a defensive end. According to him, he is just barely slimmer than he previously was, weighing 260 now and 263-265 pounds in the past, but that’s a distinction he said could literally change overnight.
What’s crucial is he’s healthy and expressed a significant deal of confidence for his return and where he already is in his rehab. He said trainers have given him a general idea of how they expect him to progress throughout camp, but his expectation is to be ready for Week 1.
“I knew it was an early injury that, for the most part, I’d probably be ready to go for Week 1,” Bosa said. “And everything right now is trending towards that.”
At the time of the injury, though, Bosa said he was struggling mentally, saying that his mind followed his body into a bad place. He credited his family and his brother, Joey, defensive end for the Chargers, for supporting him. He said he spent the entire season down in Los Angeles with his brother, and that he mental state improved as his physical health did.
As of Thursday, Bosa said he feels fantastic.
“I’m stronger upper body-wise, my legs are still coming along, but they’re moving really well and I’m bending good,” Bosa said. “I’m moving better than I ever have right now, for sure.”
Bonus note: McDaniel’s intro
Mike McDaniel has been around Kyle Shanahan for more than a decade, to the point that the two seem effectively attached at the hip (you can read more about that here). McDaniel used to be a ball boy for the Broncos after Mike Shanahan gave him the job. The two Coloradans have a pretty solid, sarcastic sense of humor, and McDaniel got down to showing that off from the get-go on Thursday, poking fun at his stature.
Funny opener from newly-minted 49ers OC Mike McDaniel, poking fun at his own size in his first real life press conference pic.twitter.com/XJrDwANYbn
— Jake Hutchinson (@hutchdiesel) July 29, 2021