49ers Training Camp: San Francisco Is Loaded and May Be Even Better in 2023

Brandon Aiyuk has been a star, Tyrion Davis-Price could be a diamond in the rough at running back and Clelin Ferrell could be the team’s next defensive lineman to break out.

This is the last training camp of the marathon phase of my tour, wrapping up this morning in Santa Clara with stop No. 16 and a loaded Niners team …

• For the second consecutive year, Brandon Aiyuk has been a star in camp. By all accounts, he put in extra work in the offseason and has entered the summer on a mission. The Niners picked up Aiyuk’s fifth-year option in the spring, and he’s eligible for a contract extension. Traditionally, San Francisco has signed its homegrown stars after Year 4, so Aiyuk is positioned to set himself up for a pretty big payday.

The Niners picked up Aiyuk’s fifth-year option in the spring, and he’s eligible for a contract extension.

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• Brock Purdy looked, well, not injured at the practice I attended—there was one throw I saw him make flat-footed to the sideline to Deebo Samuel, and with the pocket closed down around him, on which his elbow looked pretty healthy. The other thing Purdy doesn’t look like is a seventh-round pick. We’ll have more on that Monday, but it’s pretty clear the level of belief he’s engendered here, and he’s entrenched as the team’s starter. As for the deliberate ramp-up the Niners have conducted in bringing Purdy back, my sense is the Niners will be ready to let him let it rip next week.

• Christian McCaffrey is further affirming why the Niners gave up so much to get him back in October, looking even better than he did physically down the stretch last year. And the Niners might have a diamond in the rough coming at the position in second-year man Tyrion Davis-Price. The 2022 third-round pick has plenty of ability, but there were questions about his maturity coming out of school. This offseason, it looks like the light has come on for him, and the Niners are hopeful he’s going to realize his potential and become a nice complement to McCaffrey.

• One thing San Francisco has done exceptionally well is resurrect the careers of defensive linemen that washed out with other teams and help them find new life. The magic DL coach Kris Kocurek performed with Arden Key and Samson Ebukam is now happening again with Clelin Ferrell, the former Raiders first-rounder (No. 4 pick). His length, motor and scheme fit have been noticeable. The scouting department—with assistant GM Adam Peters and pro scouting director R.J. Gillen driving the bus on this one—seems to have another find here.

• This is a loaded team, and, provided Purdy plays the way they think he can, the expectation should be a deep playoff run, and that would be obvious to the casual observer, even without their best player out there (and I do think Nick Bosa’s contract gets done before the season starts, though this could be another one, like the Chiefs’ Chris Jones, complicated a bit by Aaron Donald’s outlier contract). And San Francisco may be getting even better, with a solid rookie class coming in. There aren’t many spots open for competition here anymore, but one place where the potential of the young guys is apparent is at linebacker, where sixth-rounder Dee Winters and seventh-rounder Jalen Graham have flashed.