Left Guard Is An Open Competition Everywhere Except In The Reps

The 49ers held their 10th full practice of training camp on Monday at the SAP Performance Facility, starting at 10:15 a.m. PT. Kyle Shanahan was on the field for most of it. Thirteen men were not.

The left guard reps did not change hands. Robert Jones worked with the first-team offensive line at left guard, Carver Willis took second-team left guard, and Connor Colby was at second-team right guard, per David Bonilla at 49ers Webzone, whose Monday compilation drew on multiple media reports. Kyle Posey had the same alignment at Niners Nation and added that Colby has been the second-team right guard for the majority of camp. Grant Cohn, at the session for Sports Illustrated, dates the switch to the end of the first week. Three accounts, no disagreement.

The coordinator called it open anyway. Klay Kubiak, asked about the spot after practice: "definitely still an open competition," and both men "are going to compete all camp" and will play in the preseason "a lot." He also volunteered that starting Colby first was "no slight on Connor," because "I don't think we said, 'whoever is in there the first day is going to take it all the way.'" Kubiak named Colby and Jones. He did not mention Willis, which Posey noted.

Willis is out of the concussion protocol. He had been in it since August 5, per Matt Maiocco via Marc Adams, and returned Monday to second-team work at the position the club says is open.

The running back room is down to three. Christian McCaffrey (tightness), Kaelon Black (adductor) and Jordan James (rib fracture) did not practise, and Isaac Guerendo is on the club's physically-unable-to-perform list with a pectoral injury. That leaves Patrick Taylor Jr., Sincere McCormick and Khalil Herbert.

So San Francisco went shopping. The club worked out Nyheim Miller-Hines and Zamir White and hosted Blake Watson for a visit, per Adam Schefter. Kubiak, on the men already in the building: "It's giving guys opportunities to get better too. You can talk about guys like Patrick Taylor Jr., Sincere McCormick and Khalil Herbert, who we brought in." Separately, on what the shortage opens up: "It gives us a chance to get Deebo in there a little bit and get him some touches."

Deebo Samuel took running back reps. Cohn has him as the starting running back for the session and has him dropping a five-yard pass from Brock Purdy on an out route out of the backfield against Dre Greenlaw. Bonilla has him taking handoffs as the room thinned, catching one over the middle for a big gain, and spending part of the morning fielding kick returns.

McCaffrey was given the day off. Kubiak, asked whether it was anything: "No, just managing. A little sore, but he's doing fine." On the rep count: "Christian always kind of has his rep count in any camp." The club named no body part and gave no timeline. It was his first missed session of camp.

Purdy completed 10 of 13 pass attempts, per Nick Wagoner's count at ESPN. He hit De'Zhaun Stribling deep down the right sideline against safety Marques Sigle, found Demarcus Robinson for a deep touchdown, and connected with Samuel over the middle for a big gain. Two published accounts do not agree on the Stribling ball: Bonilla has it at 50 yards down the right sideline, Cohn at 40 yards on a deep crossing route. Both put Sigle in coverage.

Two of Purdy's three incompletions were drops, by Samuel and McCormick. The third was rookie linebacker Jaden Dugger breaking up a pass intended for Robinson.

Stribling caught all three of his Purdy targets. He split a pair of one-on-one reps against Nate Hobbs, the corner defending one and giving up the next, and had a harder time with throws from Mac Jones; linebacker Tatum Bethune broke up one of them.

Jack Jones intercepted Adrian Martinez on a throw for Jordan Watkins and apparently took it back for a score. Bonilla calls it Monday's only interception. It was not the only one San Francisco's defence caught: Webzone's own quick-hits account of the same session has Upton Stout picking off Purdy on a ball intended for Demarcus Robinson in one-on-one work, which is a drill and not team period, and neither account reconciles itself to the other. Cohn puts Jones at four or more through 10 days of camp.

Fred Warner had a would-be sack on Purdy, who tried to escape the pressure by scrambling and did not. Colton McKivitz kept winning in one-on-one pass rush, though rookie Romello Height beat him once.

Nick Bosa missed a fourth straight full practice with soreness, which Bonilla frames as part of his recovery from last season's anterior cruciate ligament injury. He has not been on the field since practice six, Monday, August 3. The most recent thing a coach has said about it on the record remains Shanahan's answer on Saturday, that there was no concern and no big setback.

The full list of Monday's non-participants, per Bonilla: Black, Bosa, Jacob Cowing (hip flexor), Mike Evans (quad strain), Luke Gifford (hamstring), James, Kyle Juszczyk (finger fracture), Christian Kirk (calf strain), Vederian Lowe (high-ankle sprain), McCaffrey, Malik Mustapha (hamstring strain), Brett Toth (concussion) and Keion White (adductor). Guerendo, George Kittle and Mykel Williams are on the PUP list on top of that.

The roster moved once. San Francisco signed offensive lineman Doug Kramer Jr. to a one-year deal at 10:00 a.m. and released Nick Zakelj to fit him. Counted table by table at 49ers.com on Monday evening: 88 players on the active roster, three on the physically-unable-to-perform list, four on Reserve/Injured and one on Reserve/Left Squad. Kramer is on the page at number 58. Zakelj is not on it at all.

Next: the first of two joint practices with the visiting Tennessee Titans on Tuesday, August 11, at 10:15 a.m., open to fans. The preseason opener against the same team is Thursday.

Sources: David Bonilla and site staff, 49ers Webzone, August 10, including the full Klay Kubiak transcript, the Adam Schefter report and Webzone's separate practice-10 quick-hits account, which is the source for Upton Stout's one-on-one interception and for Carver Willis clearing the protocol; Kyle Posey, Niners Nation, August 10; Grant Cohn, Sports Illustrated, August 10; Nick Wagoner, ESPN, via Bonilla; Matt Maiocco via Marc Adams, 49ers Webzone, August 5; the 49ers' own transaction log and roster page, the latter counted table by table on the evening of August 10.