Carver Willis is 'making a push' at left guard
Kyle Shanahan says rookie Carver Willis is 'making a push' at left guard, the 49ers close the preseason 2-1, and the club's ugliest week off the field ends with a punchline it wrote itself.
Carver Willis turns a comeback into a real job push
Carver Willis missed chunks of camp with a concussion, but he was back at left guard for meaningful snaps in Thursday's preseason finale against the Raiders, and Kyle Shanahan said afterward the fourth-round rookie "is making a push" for the starting job, per 49ers Webzone. Willis played tackle in college at Kansas State and Washington, so left guard is a new position entirely, and the team has cycled through Connor Colby, Austen Pleasants and Robert Jones there all preseason without settling on one, per Niners Nation. Shanahan wasn't ready to hand it over Thursday — "We still haven't decided yet," he said — but he indicated a call is coming by roughly Monday, per Athlon Sports.
The same night settled two other questions Shanahan needed answered. Alfred Collins, back after offseason shoulder surgery cost him the start of camp, played into the third quarter, and Shanahan said it was "good to get him back" and that Collins should be ready for Week 1 after a few days off and two and a half more practices before the trip to Australia, per 49ers Webzone. Keion White, working back from a February gunshot wound to his leg, got a sack and a third-down stop in limited action — "pretty successful," in Shanahan's words — after asking for extra time following a quieter week one outing.
The 49ers close the preseason 2-1 with the starters mostly watching
Brock Purdy sat out Thursday's 18-12 win over the Raiders, and Mac Jones ran the offense instead, completing just 1 of 5 passes for 7 yards — numbers that mattered less than what the staff wanted to see elsewhere. That was Eddy Pineiro, who made all six of his field-goal attempts, and Jordan Watkins, who caught four of eight targets for 64 yards. Deebo Samuel Sr. didn't play at all, another starter given the night off with the opener less than two weeks away.
Raiders18-12
Chargers41-17
Titans13-19The backfield did the heavy lifting. Jordan James, playing through a rib injury, carried eight times for 35 yards and added a 20-yard catch, and Kaelon Black chipped in four carries for 28 yards of his own. Jones sounded at peace with how thin his own line looked: "I think we're in a good spot," he said. "I think a lot of things depend on our first game," per 49ers.com. San Francisco finishes the exhibition slate 2-1 in the preseason — the record that actually counts is still 0-0.
The wire's biggest 49ers story this week had nothing to do with football
It's been an ugly week away from the field. It began with the arrest of 49ers owner Jed York — reportedly posing under the name "Joe" — on prostitution-related charges, and by week's end some around the league believed York would "self-suspend" out of embarrassment regardless of any discipline the NFL hands down, ProFootballTalk reported, citing Sports Business Journal.
The week began with news of the arrest of the 49ers' owner posing as a man named "Joe." It's ending with news of the arrest of a man posing as a 49er. t.co/Tht6TyNo1g
Then the week found its punchline. Barstool Bush reported that a 35-year-old man had spent years posing as a 49ers player, running a $1.3 million romance-and-investment scam on more than two dozen women. ProFootballTalk drew the connection itself in the tweet below. Two arrests, two men pretending to be something they weren't, in the same week the roster was trying to get down to 53.
The 49ers open the regular season on the other side of the world
The 49ers open the season Thursday night in Los Angeles on paper — in practice, the game is at Melbourne Cricket Ground, the first regular-season NFL game ever played in Australia, with Sean McVay's Rams as the home team. McVay said this week the Rams are using every remaining day "to get ready to peak going into that Niners game," via the team's site, and he still hasn't named a backup quarterback behind Matthew Stafford, undecided between Stetson Bennett IV and Ty Simpson after Los Angeles' preseason finale against the Chargers.
Los Angeles enters unbeaten in the preseason at 3-0, having closed out that slate with a 20-18 win at the Chargers, while San Francisco arrives an underdog with the line opened at 3.5 points and the total set at 48.5 — the kind of number that reads high-scoring for a game that will otherwise be remembered for where it was played, not just what it decided.