The Good and Not So Good from Day 12 of 49ers Camp: The Purdy-Evans Connection Needs Work

It's a work in progress.

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SANTA CLARA -- The 49ers just finished Day 12 of training camp. Here's who stood out.

THE GOOD

1. Wide receiver Trenton Irwin

After De'Zhaun Stribling's stellar performance in his preseason debut a few days ago, it was reasonable to expect the 49ers to reward him by giving him some opportunities with the starters today. They didn't. Instead, they gave those opportunities to Trenton Irwin, a 30-year-old wide receiver who caught two passes for 25 yards against the Titans on Thursday night. Apparently, the 49ers really like what they see from him. Today, he caught a 30-yard pass and a 15-yard pass over the middle from Brock Purdy, and later dropped a pass in the end zone. I'm guessing head coach Kyle Shanahan wanted to send Stribling a message that he hasn't arrived yet. What a silly message. He should be starting from now on, and he shouldn't play any more in the preseason. He's too important. The 49ers better not get him injured before the season starts.

2. Wide receiver De'Zhaun Stribling

Spent a few minutes at the beginning of practice working on catching passes that were thrown behind him, because he dropped one of those on Thursday night. I guess the 49ers weren't pleased about that mistake. Shanahan was decidedly lukewarm about Stribling in his post-game press conference. Today, Shanahan essentially demoted Stribling to the second-string offense. He ran some routes with the starters, but Purdy never threw him the ball. Instead, Stribling caught passes from Mac Jones. I haven't seen a 49ers wide receiver unfairly punished like this since Brandon Aiyuk was in the doghouse five years ago. Free De'Zhaun.

3. Wide receiver Jacob Cowing

Returned from injury and beat Jack Jones to catch a 30-yard pass up the right sideline on a pass from Mac Jones. Cowing needs to stay healthy for the rest of camp and play like he did today in both preseason games. Otherwise, he probably won't make the team because he's not 30 like Irwin. Unfortunately for Cowing, he's merely 25, which is far younger than Shanahan would prefer.

4. Wide receiver Deebo Samuel

Another 30-year-old wide receiver the 49ers just love. Today, he caught a 20-yard pass from Adrian Martinez over the middle. With the starters, Samuel didn't catch any passes, but he did carry the ball a couple times because all the top running backs are injured. Give Samuel credit -- he's in the best shape possible and he shows up every day, as opposed to lots of other veterans on the team. He's one of the iron mans of camp so far, which is incredible. Unfortunately for him, he's 30, which means he's not as fast as he once was. Good thing Shanahan loves him.

5. Tight end Luke Farrell

He caught three passes from Purdy during a move-the-ball drill. Purdy seems to trust him, which is surprising, considering Farrell was awful last year. He's having a solid camp.

6. Cornerback Renardo Green

Nearly intercepted a deep pass Brock Purdy intended for Mike Evans. Evans had a step on Green, but the trajectory of Purdy's pass was low, and it caused Evans to slow down, which allowed Green to recover and knock the pass away. Ideally, it would have been nice to see Green intercept that pass, because it hit both of his hands. Unfortunately, he doesn't have good hands. But he still is a good cornerback.

7. Cornerback Jack Jones

Injured his hand early on Thursday night against the Titans, but practiced today and recovered a fumble. He takes the ball away from the offense seemingly every other practice, but his coverage isn't exactly sticky. He's an enigma.

8. Linebacker Jaden Dugger

Started at strong-side linebacker, then moved to weak-side linebacker next to Fred Warner in the nickel defense because Dre Greenlaw had the day off. The 49ers clearly love Dugger and I'm guessing he'll start at SAM in Week 1. If Greenlaw ever misses significant time, I expect Dugger will replace him at WILL and play 100 percent of the snaps. His stock is soaring.

9. Offensive tackle Trent Williams

Shows up every day and practices even though he's a 38-year-old future Hall of Famer who doesn't really need the work. I've never seen him lead like this before. I'm guessing he's positively reinforcing the 49ers for extending his contract this offseason. Williams is smart.

THE NOT SO GOOD

1. Brock Purdy's connection with Mike Evans

It's a work in progress. To be fair, Evans missed at least a week with a quad strain, and today was his first full day back. And he made a nice sliding catch over the middle on a pass from Purdy. But later, Purdy misjudged Evans' speed, underthrew him and nearly got picked off. Finally, Purdy fired a deep throw toward the sideline before Evans made his break and the pass landed out of bounds. Purdy loves throwing anticipatory passes to receivers before they've turned their head, but he can't do that just yet with Evans because they haven't played together much. Right now, Purdy has a much stronger connection with Trenton Irwin, who shouldn't make the team.

2. Quarterback Mac Jones

I don't think I've written anything nice about him yet in camp. I wanted to praise him today, but then he threw an interception right to Jalen Stroman, another player who won't make the team. It will be nice to see Jones in the preseason game against the Chargers on Thursday, considering he didn't play against the Titans and has yet to impress in camp. Kurtis Rourke has played much better than Jones.

3. Left guard Connor Colby

Promoted to starting left guard after playing backup right guard for the past week. That's the good news. The not-so-good news is that Colby was awful, and routinely gave up penetration on runs and passes to Osa Odighizuwa. The 49ers simply don't have a starting-caliber left guard. Robert Jones certainly doesn't qualify as one -- he's worse than Colby. Perhaps rookie Carver Willis can take this job eventually, but he a long way to go.