49ers’ DB D.J. Reed Suffers Torn Pec
The injuries keep mounting for the 49ers. Defensive back D.J. Reed suffered a torn pectoral during a recent workout, per Matt Maiocco of NBS Sports Bay Area. Reed subsequently confirmed the injury via Twitter.
Reed, 23, was selected by San Francisco in the fifth round of the 2018 draft. In his rookie campaign, he played in a little more than 1/3 of the team’s defensive snaps and was also a regular special teams contributor. He tallied 41 tackles and a sack and returned 11 kickoffs for 332 yards, including a 90-yarder.
His playing time took a nosedive in 2019, however. He ended up appearing in just 12% of the Niners’ defensive snaps, and he did not get any kick return opportunities. Still, the team values his ST abilities and his versatility, which allows him to line up outside the numbers, in the slot, and at safety. Plus, since Richie James is also dealing with an injury, Reed may have gotten another shot at return duties.
The timeframe for Reed’s return is not yet known, though it’s worth noting that San Francisco LB Kwon Alexander also suffered a torn pec last year. He sustained the injury on October 31 and returned to practice two months later. He was back in action for the club’s postseason run, which began on January 11.
In addition to the Reed and James injuries, the 49ers are planning to be without top wide receiver Deebo Samuel for a bit. Samuel broke his foot last month.
49ers Mulling Kendrick Bourne, Raheem Mostert Extensions
The 49ers have discussed extensions for running back Raheem Mostert and wide receiver Kendrick Bourne, according to Matt Barrows of The Athletic. It’s not immediately clear whether the Niners have engaged in serious talks with either player, but, at minimum, the front office has been planning internally. 
Mostert is under club control through 2021 thanks to the three-year extension he signed last year. The Niners don’t necessarily have to rush things, but Mostert is clearly underpaid – that deal pays him less than $3MM per year on average. At the time, Mostert was mostly a special teams player, but now, after posting 772 yards and eight touchdowns, he finds himself as the team’s RB1. As veteran NFL reporter Josina Anderson says, Mostert requested a pay raise earlier this offseason to reflect his heightened status, although his current deal does include certain rushing incentives (Twitter link). Mostert is 28 and is well aware of the shelf life of RBs, so his request makes plenty of sense.
Bourne, meanwhile, has one year to go before he hits the open market. The Niners cuffed him with the restricted free agent tender at the second-round level, retaining him for a cool $3.27MM in 2020. The 24-year-old (25 in August) has spent the last three years with SF and has been a key part of the offense over the last two. Between 2018 and 2019, Bourne has totaled 72 catches for 845 yards and nine touchdowns. This year, he has a prime opportunity to take things up a notch. With Emmanuel Sanders out of the picture and Deebo Samuel nursing a broken foot, Bourne could open the year as one of Jimmy Garoppolo‘s top targets.
Former 49ers G Mike Person Retires
Mike Person is calling it a career. Following his offseason release from the 49ers, the longtime NFL guard announced his retirement. 
[RELATED:49ers Sign Javon Kinlaw, Brandon Aiyuk]
“I just feel like now is the right time,” Person told Greg Rachac of 406 MT Sports. “Obviously I wish it would have ended differently, especially this past season. You take a beating, and anybody who’s played knows that. At some point you just have to tell yourself now is the right time. My kids are getting older and most likely I’d spend the entire season away from them if I were to sign with someone. I’ve missed too much already.”
Person, 32, spent the last two seasons as the Niners’ starting right guard. Last year, they kept him from free agency with a three-year, $9MM pact including $3MM in guarantees. Few could argue with the value – in 2018, Person graded out as Pro Football Focus’ No. 18 ranked guard in the NFL out of 71 qualified players.
Before SF, Person suited up for the Seahawks, Rams, Falcons, and Colts. All in all, he spent nine years in professional football and played in six of those seasons. Along the way, he earned millions and played in a Super Bowl – not bad for a seventh-round pick.
Person was hoping that his knees and elbows would be less bothersome after taking some time to recover in the offseason. Ultimately, he decided to hang ’em up, but he admits that it wasn’t an easy decision.
“It was in the back of my mind. I knew once this contract played out, if it had, that I would retire,” he said. “It’s one of those things where 75% of you wants to be done with it but there’s that 25% that knows you can still do it and still play.”
49ers Sign Javon Kinlaw, Brandon Aiyuk
The 49ers have signed first-round picks Javon Kinlaw and Brandon Aiyuk, the team announced (Ian Rapoport of NFL.com reported the Kinlaw signing via Twitter prior to the club announcement). Kinlaw and Aiyuk become the fourth and fifth of 32 first-rounders to sign their rookie deals.
Any other year, all (or almost all) rookies would be under contract by now. But thanks to COVID-19, many teams are waiting until their new draftees can report to team facilities before signing them.
Kinlaw was the No. 14 overall selection of this year’s draft. The 49ers traded fellow DL DeForest Buckner to the Colts earlier this offseason in exchange for the No. 13 overall pick, and then they traded down one spot on draft day to allow the Buccaneers to move up and select OL Tristan Wirfs.
The selection of Kinlaw marked the fourth time in the last five years that the 49ers used their top pick on a D-lineman. Kinlaw will be asked to step into the void left by Buckner, the No. 7 overall pick in 2016, and he will line up alongside Solomon Thomas, the No. 3 overall pick in 2017. The 49ers declined Thomas’ fifth-year option in May, so if Kinlaw impresses this year, the club could allow Thomas to leave via free agency in 2021.
Kinlaw, a South Carolina product, was deemed a moderate injury risk by most clubs, but he has boundless potential. The 6-4, 319-pounder moves with great explosiveness for a man of his size, and his ability to collapse the pocket will serve him well against the pass and the run. His inspiring backstory also makes him a player worth watching.
Like Kinlaw, Aiyuk has a chance to make an immediate impact. The 49ers watched Emmanuel Sanders depart in free agency, and second-year pro Deebo Samuel suffered a broken foot that puts his availability for the first few weeks of the season in doubt. San Francisco’s WR corp was not particularly deep to begin with, so Aiyuk will be instrumental in the team’s early season success.
The Niners’ brass certainly has confidence in Aiyuk. The team moved up from No. 31 to No. 25 to nab the Arizona State product, who caught 65 passes for 1,192 yards and eight scores in his final collegiate season. He offers excellent YAC ability, so looks for HC Kyle Shanahan to scheme ways to get the ball in his hands. His route-running is a bit raw, but he and Samuel should complement each other nicely when the latter is ready to return to the field.
Per the terms of their slots, Kinlaw will take home a four-year, $15.5MM deal, and Aiyuk will receive a four-year, $12.5MM pact. Both contracts, of course, come with a fifth-year option that would be fully-guaranteed if exercised. Here’s the full rundown of the Niners’ class, via PFR’s tracker:
1-14: Javon Kinlaw, DT (South Carolina): Signed
1-25: Brandon Aiyuk, WR (Arizona State): Signed
5-153: Colton McKivitz, T (West Virginia): Signed
6-190: Charlie Woerner, TE (Georgia)
7-217: Jauan Jennings, WR (Tennessee): Signed
49ers Sign Jauan Jennings
The 49ers have inked seventh-round pick Jauan Jennings, per a club announcement. Per the terms of his slot, the wide receiver is set to earn ~$3.4MM on his four-year deal. Of course, as the No. 217 overall pick, it’s not a certainty that he’ll make the roster. 
[RELATED: 49ers’ Deebo Samuel Suffers Broken Foot]
Jennings was the second wide receiver selected in April, long after first-round pick Brandon Aiyuk. Jennings didn’t come into the draft with the same sort of fanfare, but he was an accomplished player in his own right. In his final year at Tennessee, the 6’3″ receiver finished out with 59 receptions for 969 yards and eight touchdowns.
Jennings has shown that he can break tackles with his big frame, but his lack of speed impacted his stock somewhat. Still, you don’t need to beat every defender if you’re able to plow through some of them. Jennings will look to impress coaches with his power as he pushes to make a group that could be without Deebo Samuel for a little while.
Here’s the full rundown of the Niners’ class, via PFR’s tracker:
1-14: Javon Kinlaw, DT (South Carolina)
1-25: Brandon Aiyuk, WR (Arizona State)
5-153: Colton McKivitz, T (West Virginia): Signed
6-190: Charlie Woerner, TE (Georgia)
7-217: Jauan Jennings, WR (Tennessee): Signed
49ers Notes: Garoppolo, Brady, Trent Williams
Before Tom Brady shocked the world and joined up with the Bucs, there was buzz about TB taking his talents to SF. For his part, Jimmy Garoppolo says he wasn’t caught off guard by the speculation.
“The one thing I can say about the whole situation was Kyle and John were very honest with me the whole time,” the quarterback said (via Matt Barrows of The Athletic). “That’s their job — to put the best team together possible and you’ve got to respect that. So as long as the honesty and truthfulness is there, I respect those guys, I love those guys. And it’s going to be a fun year this year.”
It was an odd spot for Jimmy G to be in, especially since he had just capped his first full season as an NFL starter with a Super Bowl appearance. Still, he says he wasn’t sweating the Brady talk.
“It’s the NFL,” he said. “There’s competition. Everyone’s trying to put the best team together they can. And that’s just the reality of it.”
More from SF:
- 49ers GM John Lynch says he considered trading for Trent Williams midway through last season while tackles Joe Staley and Mike McGlinchey were sidelined. If they acquired the left tackle, they would have kicked him inside later on in the year. “We had made a call about it in the last season when Joe and McGlinchey were hurt, thinking, wow, this could be an option,” Lynch said (h/t 49ers Web Zone). “When those guys come back, maybe we play him at guard.” Ultimately, the deal didn’t materialize in 2019. Instead, the Niners landed Williams in April, allowing him to stay at left tackle post-Staley retirement.
- The 49ers hired ex-Jaguars assistant LB coach Mike Rutenberg to serve as a pass game specialist. The former colleague of defensive coordinator Robert Saleh will help fill in the gap following Joe Woods’ departure to Cleveland.
- Earlier this week, we learned that the 49ers have forfeited their right to apply the franchise tag to Williams. Initially, Williams wanted his new team to furnish him with a lucrative multi-year deal. Instead, he compromised with the Niners, allowing him to reach unrestricted free agency next year with half of his 2020 salary guaranteed.
49ers Can’t Franchise Tag Trent Williams
Earlier this month, Trent Williams inked his revised deal with the 49ers. Williams agreed to table his previous demand for an extension in exchange for some current year perks, including a ~50% guarantee on his remaining salary. Also, as part of the reworked contract, the Niners waived their right to franchise tag the left tackle next year, according to Field Yates of ESPN.com (on Twitter).
[RELATED: 49ers Guarantee Half Of Trent Williams’ Salary]
Even though Williams is set for unrestricted free agency next year, the two sides remain aligned on the goal of a multi-year deal, Yates hears. It’s not quite clear what that would cost for the 49ers. At one point in time, Williams was rumored to be seeking something around $20MM annually, though Williams’ agent Vince Taylor has denied those claims in March. However, the rep indicated that something in the neighborhood of $16MM would work for his client.
“If we could get to a point where we could talk about those numbers, that would not be a holdup for us,” Taylor said, back when Williams was in D.C.. “The contract has never been the holdup. The Redskins prior to the Combine put Trent on the trade market. They had him on [the trade block] maybe 10 days, and even through the Combine, which is the biggest business platform for teams looking to wheel and deal.”
Ultimately, Williams’ willingness to compromise with the 49ers proved that his contract wasn’t his top priority. The soon-to-be 32-year-old probably could have secured a long-term extension somewhere in the league. Instead, he agreed to join the Niners as he pursues a Super Bowl ring.
Williams, graded out as Pro Football Focus’ best tackle in the NFL in 2016. Since then, he’s missed a total of 29 possible games.
49ers Sign Colton McKivitz
The 49ers have signed fifth-round rookie Colton McKivitz, per a club announcement. In accordance with his slot, the offensive lineman will earn about $3.6MM over the course of his four-year deal.
[RELATED: 49ers Guarantee Half Of Trent Williams’ Salary]
On draft weekend, the 49ers shipped running back Matt Breida to the Dolphins for the No. 153 overall pick, which they used to select McKivitz. At West Virginia, McKivitz suited up for 50 games (47 starts) over the course of five years on campus. Last year, he earned first-team all-conference honors for his work at left tackle.
The West Virginia product may vie for time as a supporting guard, Somewhere behind projected starters Laken Tomlinson and Tom Compton. He could also push for snaps on the outside, where he’d back Trent Williams and Mike McGlinchey.
Here’s the full rundown of SF’s class, via PFR’s 2020 NFL Draft Pick Signing Tracker:
- 1-14: Javon Kinlaw, DT (South Carolina)
- 1-25: Brandon Aiyuk, WR (Arizona State)
- 5-153: Colton McKivitz, T (West Virginia): Signed
- 6-190: Charlie Woerner, TE (Georgia)
- 7-217: Jauan Jennings, WR (Tennessee)
49ers Guarantee Half Of Trent Williams’ Salary
The 49ers have guaranteed half of Trent Williams‘ salary for the 2020 season, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (on Twitter). The two sides agreed to rework his deal earlier in the offseason, but the terms were now previously known. On Friday, Williams formally inked the deal and passed his physical, making it all officially official. 
[RELATED: 49ers Player Tests Positive For COVID-19]
As Williams demanded a trade, he also demanded a new deal from whatever team acquired him. But, when the 49ers got serious with the Redskins, Williams had a change of heart. The deal went down towards the tail end of draft weekend and was not accompanied by a multi-year extension.
After Williams put his extension request on the back burner, the 49ers locked in 50% of his $12.5MM in base salary. Before, that sum was completely non-guaranteed.
The multiple-time Pro Bowler will take over for SF legend Joe Staley, who kept his retirement plans on the hush until the Niners landed Williams to replace him. Now, he’ll look to get back to his old form, secure another big pay day, and play for a championship in SF.
Williams, 32 in July, ggraded out as Pro Football Focus’ best tackle in the NFL in 2016. He’s missed a combined 29 games over the past four seasons, but he still profiles as one of the league’s most talented and accomplished linemen.
49ers Player Tests Positive For COVID-19
A 49ers player has tested positive for COVID-19, according to Ian Rapoport and Mike Garafolo of NFL.com (on Twitter). The player’s identity has not been revealed.
The positive player was working out with other NFL players in Nashville, Tennessee. Those who were with the player are getting tested and the players who live elsewhere are working to figure out their travel options. All of the Niners’ quarterbacks were present for the workouts, Tom Pelissero of NFL.com (on Twitter) hears, and “many other skill players” were also on hand. Jimmy Garoppolo, Jalen Hurd, Trent Taylor, Brandon Aiyuk, and Kyle Juszczyk were among those in Tennessee.
In recent days, there have been a number of positive tests in the sports world. In the NFL, that includes Cowboys star Ezekiel Elliott and Broncos safety Kareem Jackson. The positive tests raise the unfortunate reality of a return to sports – no matter what protocols are in place, social distancing is impossible on the field.
The latest figures in the U.S. have projected the COVID-19 death count at nearly 120,000. Meanwhile, Florida and South Carolina set record highs for daily cases on Friday.