49ers

49ers HC Kyle Shanahan said that there are no issues surrounding WR Deebo Samuel‘s past contract negotiations with the team now that he is back for another stint.

“Deebo’s always been one of the closest guys we’ve been to, just relationship-wise,” Shanahan told reporters,via Pro Football Talk. “When Deebo went through his contract negotiations, [I’ll] try not to put words in his mouth, but I think he thought it’d be advantageous to make it look like there was a little bit of a battle. Sometimes that helps, sometimes it doesn’t…Those OTAs [in 2022], I was at Deebo’s house on the eighth OTA day, and I was talking about how all that was just BS. He came to minicamp. We had a great summer together. I think he signed the first day back at training camp. We got over that in OTAs. That was just stuff from the negotiating periods back in April and stuff. There were stuff, definitely, that made me like, ‘What the hell is going on?’ We’re not around Deebo. Then we see him in OTAs and we got to talk man-to-man and it was fine as soon as we got with each other.”

Rams

Rams QB Matthew Stafford is excited by the team’s roster and feels they certainly have a chance to make a run at the Super Bowl; meanwhile, HC Sean McVay wants to hold back the expectations and not get caught up in the hype this early in the season.

“It was a blast to be out here today,” Stafford said, via NFL.com. “I’m surrounded by so many great players, and I don’t take that for granted, both on our side of the football and on the defensive side. It’s a blessing to come out here every single day and compete against these guys and play with the guys on the offensive side. Just an exciting time.”

“We can’t help but make each other better, (but) pieces of paper and names on a roster, those don’t win football games,” Stafford added. “Teams and players and groups do. … Sean said it the other night, we’ve got potentially a high ceiling, right? We’ve got great players that have done a lot in this league. What can we do to continue to raise our floor, so if I’m off a little bit, we can still go find a way to win a football game? If our defense is off a little bit, we can still find a way to go win a football game. Continuing to raise that floor is something that’s going to be a huge part of our journey this season.”

“That’s not what I believe,” McVay noted. “I’m not living that way. I’ve gotten caught up in things like that before and those are things that are way beyond our control.”

• McVay said DE Myles Garrett missed Tuesday’s joint practice with the Cowboys due to swelling in his knee. McVay called Garrett 85 percent healthy and was clear they wanted to err on the side of caution with their new star. (Lindsey Thiry)

Seahawks

• Seahawks HC Mike Macdonald told ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler they would love to keep two to three running backs involved in the game plan each week but admitted that first-round RB Jadarian Price has been impressive and “doesn’t feel like a rookie.”
• It’s still not a certainty Seahawks S Nick Emmanwori is back in time for Week 1, per Fowler. 
• Fowler says the Seahawks want to have two tight ends on the field a lot this year, which means a bigger role for TE Elijah Arroyo. Fellow TE A.J. Barner said: “Tremendously talented player. Year 2, you get more comfortable.”