49ers training camp: Reports from day three

It was the third day of training camp for the San Francisco 49ers, also the first day of wearing full pads. These are the latest reports on the team.

After free safety Jimmie Ward injured his hamstring during the conditioning test, the team was forced to do a maneuvering of positions. This resulted in Jaquiski Tartt, who normally plays strong safety, to move to the spot Ward occupied. Thankfully, it looks like the injury to Ward isn’t too serious as the team hopes to have him back in a couple weeks.

But the injury bug has struck again, at the same position group too. Strong safety Eric Reid appears to have suffered an injury of his own, per Matt Barrows of The Sacramento Bee:

As Barrows notes, the 49ers are now set to be without their two starting safeties for a portion of training camp. Reid reportedly attempted to play after being initially hurt, but ultimately had to stop. With both safeties out, and if Ward’s injury proves to be worse than originally thought, there might be change at the positions.

Undrafted free agent Lorenzo Jerome has been making headlines at camp so far, who could potentially play free safety. There also could be more maneuvering, with Reid heading back to his traditional free safety spot. That would free up Tartt to revert back to strong safety, and that might be a good thing as he has seemed to struggle with the swap of positions.

For now though it’s a guessing game with no official diagnosis on Reid’s injury. After practice, head coach Kyle Shanahan said Reid hurt his ankle and his status is to be determined.

On the positive side, rookie linebacker Reuben Foster continues to impress. Foster recorded not only his second interception of camp, but also his second pick-six, that according to NBC Sports Bay Area’s Matt Maiocco. It was a bounceback performance for Foster, who Maiocco reported did not do well in the pass coverage drills with the running backs.

The training camp hype that has been building around Foster has made its way to the national coverage arena, with this piece from Draft Wire’s Luke Easterling.

Besides Foster, the defense looks to still be doing well, per reports from The Niner Wire’s Chris Biderman and Rob Lowder:

Brian Hoyer’s handle as starting quarterback is only getting stronger. Staying consistent with reports from the first two days, the third day was no different for Hoyer who is distancing himself from backup quarterbacks Matt Barkley and C.J. Beathard.

The connection between the Hoyer and his presumed top two wide receivers has been growing — the chemistry between Hoyer, Pierre Garçon and Marquise Goodwin is vital to the 49ers offensive livelihood. Here’s some visual representation of that from today, courtesy of Lowder:

Next: How John Lynch is building 49ers defense from the ground up

Stick with us at Niner Noise as we’ll continue to provide news and updates from 49ers training camp this season.