Which Niners Need to Use Their Break Wisely?
By Jerod Brown
The San Francisco 49ers are enjoying their second week of summer vacation before reconvening in late-July for training camp.
As players head home for a slight break before the grind of an NFL season hits, some will stay dedicated to improving and some will spend the time relaxing. The coaching staff can’t follow these grown men around and will have to trust that they’re each putting in the necessary work to improve and condition their bodies. The NFL regular season is brutal enough, but head coach Chip Kelly will expect his players to be in better-than-most physical condition.
In their off-time, players will be spending the final moments with family and friends before locking in for four months of physicality that certainly exhausts every bit of energy they have. We’ve seen players spend this time in the worst of ways–just checking in on Jason Pierre-Paul’s hand–but we also hear of superstars that use this time to develop their bodies and minds to succeed or follow passions.
The 49ers front office and coaching staff hope that players spend the next month in solitude. While some may cause a stir, many can use this time to their benefit. Extra time spent conditioning, learning the playbook and preparing to be sharp once training camp begins only serves to make the team better and the competitions more heated. The strength of the roster could use some of that.
Like most teams, the staff certainly have their eyes on a few specific players that they hope to see increased performance from upon returning. The 49ers, and the depth of their roster, will hinge largely on three players spending the next month to get better.
Gerald Hodges
In a brief press conference during OTAs, defensive coordinator Jim O’Neil said that the inside linebacker competition will be a three-man race between Michael Wilhoite, Gerald Hodges and Ray-Ray Armstrong. NaVorro Bowman has entrenched himself as not only the leader of the defense, but of the team as well. One of the three men will be chosen to pair with a top-five inside linebacker in the NFL.
Gerald Hodges should be that guy. However, the coaching staff won’t hand any player a starting position. Chip Kelly has suggested numerous times, both with the 49ers and throughout his time in Philadelphia, that he will let competitions dictate a starter. He would prefer that the play on the field speaks for itself and that he never has to make some grand announcement.
Wilhoite was the starter opposite of Bowman last year and, while Wilhoite can be counted on to be solid, he is an average starter at best. He’s worth keeping on the roster as the immediate linebacker off of the bench but the team needs to be looking for upgrades.
Hodges, listed at 6’2” and 236 pounds, is entering his fifth season. Coming out of Penn State, the same college that Bowman attended, Hodges has a bit of an alumni connection with the 49ers’ leader.
Hodges managed to start four games towards the end of the 2015 season, following an injury to Wilhoite. In those four starts, he was nothing to write home about, ending the year with zeros in every statistical category aside from tackles. The 49ers need to find a coverage linebacker that can eliminate some of the wear-and-tear on Bowman’s knee. Hodges, recording no passes defensed nor interceptions in 2016, isn’t exactly oozing the credentials that the coaches might hope.
Over the next month, Hodges will need to remain in excellent shape and spend time with his head in the playbook. He has the inside path to start alongside Bowman but the coaching staff wants to see him take control of that opportunity.
Trent Brown
Spoiler alert: Chip Kelly likes to have a quick offense. The idea is that the more plays run, the more opportunity. Kelly is not in a rush, but rather wants to take advantage of the benefits that come from moving quickly to the line of scrimmage and rattling off a few plays.
The only way he can do that is if his team is in impeccable shape. Right now, they aren’t. Well, some may be. The skill position players are smaller men that take much less time to condition their bodies for continual tasks that require anaerobic endurance.
Trent Brown isn’t one of those men. In fact, he’s currently listed at 355 pounds. That puts him at 27 pounds heavier than the Philadelphia Eagles heaviest offensive lineman in 2015. Who was that player? Left tackle Jason Peters, a player with much more experience than Brown.
At his current weight, Brown will have an exceptionally difficult time acclimatizing to Kelly’s offense and what is physically demanded. As such, he has to spend the next month conditioning and maintaining his health in preparation for training camp and the regular season.
Brown is by no means guaranteed a roster spot, much less a starting position. The 49ers drafted tackles Fahn Cooper and John Theus from the SEC in the fifth round of the 2016 NFL Draft. The message is clear; Brown will have immediate competition for the right tackle spot. Without an impressive amount of work over the next month, Brown may arrive significantly lower on the depth chart than he hopes.
Mike Davis
The San Francisco 49ers will carry four running backs on the roster. Depending on personnel needs for any given week, they might only run with three on Sundays.
Carlos Hyde is the unquestioned starter and will see a bulk of the carries. However, Chip prefers to mix-and-match his running backs for multiple purposes. Aside from Hyde, rookie sixth-round selection Kelvin Taylor is the only other running back that should feel comfortable that he’ll make the roster.
Taylor’s skill set is enough to give him one year with Chip in an attempt to maximize his value as a change-of-pace back alongside Hyde. While Taylor isn’t a speed demon, he specializes in one-cut runs and finding holes on the backside of zone-run schemes.
Which leaves Davis to battle veterans Shaun Draughn and DuJuan Harris for what is likely the final two seats in the running back room. Draughn proved to be a versatile athlete throughout his time with the team last year and he developed a rapport with quarterback Blaine Gabbert. Kelly employs passes out of the backfield often and Draughn was beloved by Gabbert in those situations.
Although Davis is entering just his second season, he struggled to make any sort of impact in his rookie year and may not be the type of runner that Kelly looks for. Davis is a larger back that failed to do anything in short-yardage situations and doesn’t possess the speed or agility to be a back that pushes the edges of defenses.
In order to have any chance at cracking the roster, Davis should be working on his footwork, pad level and quickness every day. He’ll have to become more adept as an overall and complete back. Without doing so, he risks being passed up by Harris and Draughn, two running backs that have proved proficient enough in what they’ve been asked to do.
The 49ers coaching staff should have high expectations for these players. They may not contribute to the team in 2016. But if they plan on competing for a starting spot, they’ll have to be working hard during this break before returning in late-July.
Throughout this break, the organization hopes to hear nothing but positives from the players. No firework catastrophes. No accidental falls that lead to broken bones. And certainly no legal issues.
Stay home, be smart, study and workout. The team is expecting it, and Chip Kelly is demanding it.
Originally published at thereadoptional.com on June 22, 2016.
