49ers
49ers HC Kyle Shanahan commented on the contract situation of WR Deebo Samuel.
“The days of holding out and stuff are a little bit different now because players, regardless of what the team decides later, always have to pay [the fines] back,” Shanahan told Tim Kawakami of TheAthletic.com. “Now, those fines can’t get paid back [because of the new CBA]. What I do know is: I’m not worried about it not getting done. I feel very confident that Deebo’s going to be on our team this year, and he’s going to be for many years after. I do believe he’ll get a deal. I know that they’re working on it right now.”
“I think every player in the league is underpaid,” Shanahan added. “I think this league makes a lot of money, and these players go through a lot of stuff, so like you always look at it that way. But when you become a head coach or a General Manager and stuff like that, you do get to see the other side, and your job is to put the best football team together possible, and so you work with these players and your goal is to get them paid, [but you] got to balance all that stuff together so you have a chance to win.”
- Shanahan added Wednesday Samuel didn’t practice, before adding: “I just had a great conversation with Deebo. Hopefully we can figure something out soon.” (Andrew Siciliano)
- Shanahan said the team is only requiring QB Jimmy Garoppolo to throw before he leaves for the day. (Matt Barrows)
Cardinals
Cardinals TE Zach Ertz elaborated on QB Kyler Murray‘s knowledge of the playbook despite some of the language in his recent contract.
“Anytime I brought up questions about how their defense was playing certain techniques or whatever, he knew what I was talking about,” Ertz said, via Darren Urban. “From my standpoint, I’m not in there watching the film with him, obviously … but anytime I wanted to talk about certain techniques they were doing or something I saw based on my study, he was on the same page with me the majority of the time. The addendum is what it is, but in my opinion, Kyler knows the playbook inside and out,”
Cardinals S Budda Baker also vouched for his quarterback when speaking to the media.
“I know that K1 is a hard worker,” Baker said. “Guys are all different. Some guys like to stay at the facility and watch films, and some guys like to watch films, not on their team-issued iPads (but) in their big (meeting) rooms. Some guys are at home. He just got paid so everything is good. All he thinks about is football anyway.”
Cardinals HC Kliff Kingsbury noted he didn’t have much involvement in negotiations with Murray apart from doing a lot of “prayer and pleading to both parties” to get things done. He defended Murray, however.
“His development in all areas, all he’s done is get dramatically better each and every year,” Kingsbury said. “That’s what I judge it by. There are a handful of quarterbacks that can win a Super Bowl in this league, and we feel he is one of them.”
Rams
Rams HC Sean McVay said QB Matthew Stafford operated without restriction in the team’s first training camp practice.
“He was a full participant today,” McVay said, via Jourdan Rodrigue of The Athletic. “Him having as much experience as he does, we’ll continue to build him up (and) we’re aware of what that pitch count is. But it didn’t restrict him from being able to do anything today.”
Stafford added that he felt good after the first practice and admitted that he would have to go through the process of knocking some rust off.
“It feels good to get out there; definitely knocking some rust off and feeling it again,” Stafford said. “It’s good to…stress it a little bit, and see how it reacts.”
Stafford said the rehab process put in place by the team has been an exercise in patience, but he’s been able to adapt to the process with the idea that it’s a long season ahead.
“It’s a little bit of a process, but I’ve got to just sit there and go with it,” Stafford said. “There’s a little bit of something that we have down on paper, but it’ll be fluid, I’m sure. So we’ll just go from there…It’s an interesting thing, trying to have a little bit of governor on there, and at the same time just be as smart as I can. It’s a process, gonna have to sit there and work through it, trust it and we’ll figure it out as we go.”
Seahawks
- Seahawks GM John Schneider on the Seahawks releasing RB Chris Carson with a failed physical designation: “It’s a big disappointment. We took it as long as we possibly could with him, he saw a number of specialists, but unfortunately he wasn’t able to pass our physical.” (Brady Henderson)
- The Seahawks tried out G Keenan Forbes, DE Adam Rodriguez, DT Keonte Schad and G Eric Wilson. Forbes and Wilson ultimately signed with the team.
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