NFC Notes: 49ers, Cardinals, Rams

49ers

• New 49ers TE Jordan Reed admitted that he considered retiring from the NFL after last season: “I definitely thought about hanging it up after last season. It was when I saw the Super Bowl that ignited me again. I want to play in those big games. … I love the game of football and I still have the drive to keep playing.” (Cam Inman)
• Reed said he’s medically cleared after suffering his seventh concussion that kept him out last year in Washington. “It’s a big culture change. Everything is upbeat, positive, everybody doing their job to the best their ability and you want to meet that standard. I’m grateful.” (Cam Inman)

Cardinals

The Cardinals are still working to figure out who will start at right tackle in place of veteran Marcus Gilbert. But it appears the team has narrowed it down to two candidates as of a week ago: last year’s starter Justin Murray and summer pickup Kelvin Beachum. The two still have some time to make their case before the team shifts to preparation for Week 1. 

“Well, luckily for us we’re going to give them a ton of full-speed reps against Chandler Jones. That’s a pretty good measure to see if you can hold up or not in this league,” Cardinals HC Kliff Kingsbury said via Bob McManaman of the Arizona Republic. “Justin, he started (12) games last season and with Beach, the last however many years in the league (eight), he’s started (99), so those guys have in-game experience and it’s not like it’s a young guy coming in that’s never played in the league.”

Kingsbury mentioned Murray could also be a factor as a guard while Beachum is working on shifting to the right side after playing most of his career on the left. As for third-round OT Josh Jones who surprisingly slid to Arizona after being hyped as a potential first-round pick, Kingsbury says the Cardinals have still been impressed with Jones but making the transition as a rookie this year is tough. 

“We did not think he would be there with that third-round pick and we knew getting him that he’d have a chip on his shoulder and he would want to work to prove that he was worthy of a first-round pick and that’s what we’ve seen so far,” Kingsbury said. “He was great through the virtual meetings and he’s been great so far in working hard and the attention to details and trying to get better at his craft each and every day. He’s got a long way to go, as do each of these rookies. They’ve definitely been thrown into the fire with how this preseason will go. But we like what we’ve seen.”

Rams

• According to NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport, Rams WR Cooper Kupp suffered a low-ankle sprain that will keep him out of practice the rest of the week. 
• However, Rapoport says Kupp’s absence will be precautionary more than anything and if there was a game this week it’s likely Kupp would play.