The 49ers are nearly finished with their first week of training camp in 2022, and Friday’s practices and reports generated some notable storylines.
It’s weird to think the San Francisco 49ers will actually play a football game two weeks from today, opening up their 2022 preseason period with a home bout against the Green Bay Packers on Friday, Aug. 12.
For now, though, the Niners are closing in on the end of Week 1 of training camp, and the pads will go on next week, indicating a ramp-up in intensity for head coach Kyle Shanahan’s squad.
As is usually the case, San Francisco’s defense started off stronger than the offense, so any struggles quarterback Trey Lance and Co. might have had over the first week shouldn’t garner too many overreactions.
If anything, the 49ers defense might be a pretty solid group this year. That’s the look of it.
However, the Niners are already looking to dodge those “injury bullets” early in camp, and perhaps they already have with regards to one of their standout defensive players.
Let’s take a look at some notable training camp updates from Friday’s session.
49ers training camp news: Arik Armstead to miss time with knee sprain
With Shanahan holding his camp pressers before practices begin, we learned why veteran defensive tackle Arik Armstead missed Thursday’s practice, him suffering an ACL sprain that’ll keep him out a few weeks, according to the head coach.
Coach Kyle Shanahan told reporters that #49ers DL Arik Armstead sprained his MCL in practice and will be out a few weeks. The knee injury isn’t considered serious.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) July 29, 2022
San Francisco doesn’t consider the injury to be serious, yet it’s likely to knock Armstead out for the rest of camp and through the preseason.
It’s not as if the eighth-year pro needs the ramp-up period to prepare for the regular season, though.
In a corresponding move to help round out the defensive line’s depth chart, the 49ers inked 27-year-old defensive lineman Tomasi Laulil, who’ll wear No. 55 that was recently vacated by the team parting ways with EDGE Dee Ford earlier in the week.
49ers training camp news: Trent Williams welcomes a baby
One might have assumed there was another injury scare for another one of the Niners’ top players, All-Pro left tackle Trent Williams, who had been excused from the first two practice days of training camp.
No injury to report here, though.
Williams was out for a reported “personal matter,” and it turns out that matter was him welcoming a child into the world.
Trent Williams was excused from practice because he had a baby and was in the hospital in OAK. He is at the #49ers facility today.
— Jennifer Lee Chan (@jenniferleechan) July 29, 2022
The perennial Pro Bowler was back at practice on Friday and probably filled with excitement while also being quite tired from welcoming a child into the world.
In all seriousness, congratulations to him. That’s awfully exciting news.
49ers training camp: Trey Lance, offense still struggling
Trey Lance sure looked promising on the opening day of practices this week, but the last two days haven’t exactly been inspiring.
After completing half of his pass attempts on Thursday, albeit with at least two of them bouncing off his receivers’ hands, Lance suffered an even lower performance on Friday, as broken down by The Athletic’s Matt Barrows:
Another rough day for Trey Lance who had little time to settle in the pocket. I had him at 3-10 in team drills, including a pass that was well behind George Kittle and intercepted by a Talanoa Hufanga. The starting SS nearly brought it back for a TD.
— Matt Barrows (@mattbarrows) July 29, 2022
Yes, this will inevitably draw some panic from those worried about Lance. And that’s fine. Remember, we’re talking about a player who attempted just 318 passes at the collegiate level, hardly played in 2020 and sat behind quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo for the bulk of 2021.
There’ll be some bumps and bruises.
Also, though, San Francisco has gone with a makeshift offensive line this week, only getting Trent Williams back Friday but still missing right tackle Mike McGlinchey while experimenting with different options at center.
Against a defense that is starting off hot, that’s not particularly a recipe for Lance’s early success in practice.
Let’s see if this is a problem a week from now before rushing to judgment.
49ers training camp: Reinforced secondary showing value
A year ago, the 49ers’ front seven had to make up for deficiencies within the secondary, namely at cornerback.
After adding veteran corner Charvarius Ward, however, it’s looking as if the Niners’ defensive backs might actually emerge as a team strength. Paired with an already-strong pass rush and linebacker corps, Ward and the other San Francisco corners and safeties continued their rock-solid start to training camp.
Ward has already made his presence known, while fellow corner Emmanuel Moseley was excellent on both days one and two of practice. With the Trey Lance interception by second-year safety Talanoa Hufanga, yet another layer of defense is beginning to show up.
Heck, even second-year cornerback Ambry Thomas, who’ll be pushed down by Ward, managed to intercept backup quarterback Nate Sudfeld during team drills.
“Our secondary is playing as good as I’ve seen,” EDGE Nick Bosa said after practice.
Related Story: Richard Sherman offers praise to Niners secondary
What makes this even more notable is the defensive backs aren’t allowed to engage in tackling or press coverage just yet, denying them the advantage at the line of scrimmage.
If this group is performing as well as it has been already, it’s not hard to get even more excited about what it can do when the pads come on.
The 49ers finish up Week 1 of training camp on Saturday, July 30.