49ers Kyle Shanahan is Noticing Improvement From WR Danny Gray
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Danny Gray had a pretty forgettable rookie season.
The 49ers drafted him fairly early when they took him with a third-round pick. In those rounds, teams are looking for role players and consistent contributors. Gray never could gain any traction. Much of that had to do with Trey Lance missing the season with a broken ankle,considering Lance is basically why Gray was drafted in the first place.
Gray was forced to branch out and be more than a vertical threatening receiver. He struggled immensely with that, and so he couldn't find a role in the offense. However, Gray has used those struggles from his rookie season to work on himself. He's showing improvement and it is something that Kyle Shanahan is noticing early on.
"I think it's a lot better than when he left off," said Shanahan. "I think Danny learned from his first year, just how long that grind is of a rookie year, just going from the offseason of the combine and all the workouts to getting here and really never stopping. And we saw him in the offseason have a little different attention to detail the way he came here in phase one and two, how he worked to get in shape and that's what has allowed him to have a good OTAs and go through a bunch of stuff, which to me he's finally got in the shape to where he could do everything and this will really help him for training camp.”
This is a great update for Gray, and it presents an opportunity for him. Shanahan noticing and being impressed with his improvement means they believe in him. Gray actually has a bit of momentum here with being noticed. He has to maximize this opportunity when training camp comes around. This is the beginning of when he can separate himself from the rest of the receivers not named Brandon Aiyuk and Deebo Samuel.
How he can do that is by executing and finishing blocks, hustling during and after every play and showing he can run more than just the go-route. These are the traits that will help him, and I'd imagine these are the improvements that Gray has made to his game that Shanahan notices. If he can keep this up, recognize that he has a bit of momentum and put it together in the preseason, then Gray will be looking at a fairly sizeable role in the regular season as a key contributor.
