San Francisco 49ers: Winners and Losers from 2016 Minicamp

The San Francisco 49ers are wrapping up their mandatory minicamp today, and then they break until training camp in late July. Who have been the winners and losers from this minicamp?

The importance of minicamp is understated — it is the last chance for the players to impress the coaches before they break away for around six weeks until the beginning of training camp.

Obviously for the key starters, minicamp is a tool to get in good practice time and to work on techniques and routes. For the lesser (or bubble) players, minicamp is vital to get their work in which their coaches can notice and will more importantly be impressed by.

The San Francisco 49ers have had more time to learn and implement the new schemes from the coaches. During the OTAs, players such as quarterback Blaine Gabbert, receivers Torrey Smith and Bruce Ellington, linebacker Tank Carradine and defensive back Jimmie Ward all impressed.

Others struggled, such as receiver Quinton Patton and defensive back Chris Davis.

So who has stepped up and led the way through minicamp so far? Let’s take a look at some winners and losers.

Winner – Torrey Smith (WR)

Mr. Smith is taking this bona fide No. 1 receiver thing well, which is great news for the offense. He has continued his good form from the OTAs to the first two days of minicamp.

Yesterday he had his way with the defensive backs, as Ninerswire Chris Biderman noted:

"Smith had an especially solid day, giving the secondary all it could handle. He beat Jimmie Ward down the right sideline on an impressive 40-yard catch and throw from Gabbert during seven-on-sevens, despite Ward’s blanket coverage. Smith also beat Tramaine Brock for a touchdown in full-team drills."

For the Niners offense to take the next step, it needs a career-year from Smith. His career best receptions in a season is 65 with the Baltimore Ravens in 2013 — he should smash this number in 2016.

Last year he caught just 33 passes with the Niners, but he wasn’t helped by below-par QB play or having Anquan Boldin opposite him. Now he is free of those reins, and with better offensive schemes and QB play, he is poised to break out this season.

Loser – Tramaine Brock (CB)

Tramaine Brock was beaten badly by Smith on a touchdown pass, and he was also beaten by lesser-known receiver DiAndre Campbell.

This is not good news when your No. 1 rated cornerback is being beaten by a guy who most likely is going to be a practice squad player when it’s all said and done.

Grant Cohn of the Press Democrat notes:

"After getting abused most of practice by Torrey Smith, Brock gave up a touchdown catch to DiAndre Campbell in the red zone. Campbell beat Brock with a simple slant route and Brock couldn’t recover. Will be interesting to see how Brock handles himself during the season, considering all the man coverage the Niners will use. He certainly didn’t handle himself well today."

Let’s just hope this was an off day for Brock. We know he has the talent. But if this becomes a trend, then the Niners secondary is already in trouble.

Winner – Colin Kaepernick (QB)

The fact Colin Kaepernick is finally on the field and throwing the football is a great sign. In the last two weeks in OTAs he was not cleared to practice, and he was reduced to just mirroring the movement of Gabbert.

Though Gabbert is more likely to start as he is further into the offseason program, Kaepernick had an excellent throwing day yesterday, completing 78 percent of his passes and throwing two TDs, per Cohn:

"Replaced Thad Lewis as the No. 2 quarterback during 3-on-3s and 7-on-7s, and completed 11 of 14 pass attempts. Two of those passes were dropped, meaning Kaepernick was locked in. He led two drives during a red-zone drill and finished both drives with touchdown passes – one to Dres Anderson and another to Bruce Miller."

By all reports, Kaepernick is regaining his strength and looks bigger and stronger, though he has not reached his 2015 level yet. Perhaps it would be wiser for him to not bulk up quite as much. Yes, the muscles help with the beating you can take as a QB, but it also reduces your speed. Being 10 pounds lighter may help him this season with running away from would-be sacks.

Loser – Bruce Miller (TE)

Bruce Miller is, for all intents and purposes, a tight end now, despite him still being listed as a fullback on the Niners’ current roster. He has 76 catches over his five-year career, but it is quite clear the coaches want him catching footballs. Head coach Chip Kelly loves his TEs, and Miller is being given a great chance to switch to this new position successfully.

However, yesterday was a mixed bag. He dropped a couple of balls (including a potential TD) and he had trouble with the speed of the Kaepernick pass. Matt Maiocco of CSN Bay Area explains:

"During a 7-on-7 drill, tight end Bruce Miller dropped what would’ve been a 20-yard touchdown pass from Kaepernick. He then failed to hold onto a catchable pass on a crossing pattern with Reaser breaking it up. But on a fourth-down play, Kaepernick and Miller hooked up for a 13-yard touchdown."

Miller has to be better than this. Yes, he is going through a major switch, but he has to hang onto the football. At best right now he is likely the team’s third-string TE, and if he cannot prove he can regularly hold onto the ball he will be reduced to special teams duty.

Winner – Antoine Bethea (SS)

It is great to see the return of veteran Antoine Bethea, who is the clear leader on the Niners secondary. Losing him halfway through last season to the pectoral injury was a major blow. Not only does he bring superior leadership, he also brings a physical presence which is hard to duplicate.

The offense did dominate the defense in yesterday’s practices (which hasn’t been the case over the last couple of years). This is a welcome sight for us fans after witnessing last year’s 14.9 points per game debacle.

Bethea hasn’t been affected however. Indeed, Kelly has been very enthusiastic about his performance so far which he explained yesterday per Matt Barrows of the Sacramento Bee.

“I think if you watch probably the best guy in the secondary is Antoine Bethea,” Kelly said. “He’s had ample opportunity to probably separate a guy from the ball, but just kind of pulls out of it because we don’t have pads on.”

The last thing this team needs is anymore injuries, so it is logical for Bethea to not light up his teammates (and especially without the pad support).

Loser – Keith Reaser (CB)

Reaser doesn’t appear to be handling the extra CB competition too well in the OTAs and now minicamp. He struggled in the OTAs, and yesterday was simply a disaster for him on the field.

It looks like he was beaten a couple of times, per Cohn again:

"Beaten over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again, including twice for touchdowns. Reaser might be the least confident cornerback I’ve ever seen in the NFL. He almost looks like he expects to get beaten."

Per Pro Football Focus (subscription required), he graded out at a plus-63.1 (from a zero to 100 scale) and had a pass coverage grade of plus-64.9 in 2015. His overall grade was higher than fellow corner Kenneth Acker, so it’s a surprise to see him struggling so badly in these practices. Obviously for one reason or another his confidence is currently shot.

With the drafting of Will Redmond, Rashard Robinson (who also had a bad day yesterday) and Prince Charles Iworah, Reaser’s position on the roster is tenuous at best. He is not a terrible player, but if he doesn’t recover quickly then he is playing his way onto the street.

It looks like today, however, he had somewhat of a rebound, per Joe Fann of 49ers.com:

In practice, you are always going to have winners and losers. It is great to see the Niners offense looking much sharper compared to previous offseasons and the strength of the team, the defense, getting pushed to improve their performance.

Even if the Niners have the worst roster in the NFL, per PFF (whatever), competition breeds success and the real games haven’t been played yet.

The players have another six weeks to improve on their own and then they have a good opportunity to show this progress in training camp. The squad has a lot of good players, despite what PFF says.

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Niner Noise’s Peter Panacy noted the fans shouldn’t be too concerned about the team’s 2016 record. This is right. We need to be seeing incremental improvement from the young players, and better overall execution of the offensive and defensive schemes.

There will be more winners and losers over training camp next month. Let’s hope the winners remain winners and the losers turn into winners.

Next: San Francisco 49ers: 10 Worst Quarterbacks in Franchise History

All statistics, records and accolades courtesy of Pro-Football-Reference.com, Sports-Reference.com and 49ers.com unless otherwise indicated.