By admin 
49ers All-Pro pass rusher Nick Bosa hasn’t been seen at a training camp practice since Aug. 3 while coming from back from an ACL tear. But head coach Kyle Shanahan isn’t ringing the alarm bells yet when it comes to his availability for Week 1.
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“Just soreness, tendinitis,” Shanahan said Tuesday. “It’s a pretty normal thing with ACLs. Just talking to our (staff), they say it happens to about 90% of the guys we’ve had, so it’s a normal thing. And so we got to be smart here, week to week. But no concerns about anything more than that.”
Bosa appeared healthy at the beginning of camp after tearing the ACL in his right knee Sept. 21 and missing the final 16 games including the playoffs. It marked the second time he tore the ligament dating back to his high school career at St. Thomas Aquinas in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. And it was his second ACL tear since entering the NFL; he tore the ligament in his left knee early in 2020.
Bosa’s absence has been the headline of a depleted defense end group through the first two weeks of training camp. He’s among the team’s top three at the position who have missed significant time, along with Mykel Williams (ACL recovery) and Keion White (adductor). The team’s top defensive ends Tuesday continued to be Sam Okuayinonu and rookie third-round pick Romello Height.
Shanahan says no concern for Christian McCaffrey’s injury
Christian McCaffrey walked on to the practice field Tuesday to watch the full-team session of the joint practice between the 49ers and Titans wearing a sleeveless shirt and shorts after working out in the team’s weight room. He missed practice Monday and Tuesday due to “tightness,” according to the team.
Shanahan said, like Bosa, he’s not overly concerned about McCaffrey’s long-term status. He’s been held out as a precaution after participating in each practice before Monday.
“My concern would be him toughing through tightness, like a lot of people do, and then hurting something bad.” Shanahan said. “Christian’s a guy who needs to get prepared for Week 1, but also we’re pretty confident in what he’s done these two weeks and we just want to make sure we don’t make it (worse).”
49ers and Titans square off on practice field
Bosa’s teammates on defense got into multiple skirmishes with the Titans ahead of their preseason game Thursday. There were three scuffles after three of the first six reps while it appeared the 49ers’ defense was hitting with game-like intensity and the Titans took exception.
“I promise, we’re not trying to fight and do all this other stuff,” linebacker Fred Warner said. “And that’s what I’m trying to tell the guys early on.”
It appeared emotions were boiling over to the point of the practice needing to be stopped. But both sides eventually cooled and competed in full-team sessions, a red zone period and a 2-minute drill.
“I brought everybody together and told them, ‘we’re not going to get through today if we continue on this path,’” Warner said. “We got to play football, right? If you end up on the ground, then that means you didn’t win your rep. And you got to run it back. So I think we found our groove after some of that fiery business going on in the beginning.”
Shanahan and Titans head coach Robert Saleh, the former 49ers’ defensive coordinator, were on the other field where San Francisco’s offense was going against Tennessee’s defense. A skirmish broke out on that side, and Shanahan and Saleh ran in and called for the music to stop so they could relay a message the players. The coaches agreed that any players who threw punches would be ejected from practice.
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“You don’t want to care about scuffles, you just hate losing guys,” Shanahan said. “A player loses all the reps of the rest of the day and then your position’s down (a man) for the whole day. So there can be a chain reaction for other guys.”
The Titans had two offensive linemen ejected for throwing punches: tackles Dan Moore and Austin Dealus. It was unclear if any 49ers were given the boot from practice, though it appeared Dre Greenlaw, Upton Stout, Tatum Bethune, Renardo Green and Osa Odighizuwa were all mixing it up at various points.
Stout and Ji’Ayir Brown each had interceptions of second-year quarterback Cam Ward, the No. 1 pick in the 2025 NFL draft.
Another strong day from Purdy
On the other field, 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy continued his strong start to training camp. He found rookie De’Zhaun Stribling and veteran Demarcus Robinson on a number of passes while Deebo Samuel was being used in various ways as he was during his first tenure with San Francisco.
With McCaffrey sidelined, Patrick Taylor Jr. was the top tailback. It appeared the running game struggled early but got loose as the day wore on. Taylor, Khalil Herbert and Sincere McCormick received the bulk of the carries with Samuel sprinkled in.
Stribling continues to impress and appears in line to be a key contributor early in the season. One play stood out: a crossing route over the middle of the field where Purdy placed the ball over the hands of a linebacker and underneath the coverage over the top. He hit Stribling in stride in what would have gone for a long catch-and-run touchdown.
“He’s a really smart dude. He gets the game of football,” Purdy said of Stribling. “Sometimes guys come in, they’re talented and stuff. But to understand the speed of the NFL and how defenses operate in the NFL, it can be hard for guys to get with it quick. Eventually they get there, but Strib is a guy that’s come in and has shown he understands leverages, he understands coverages and our concepts and where he needs to be.”
Shanahan, of course, is notorious for being tough on young receivers, but Stribling is adjusting quickly. And he might be called upon to carry a significant role as a rookie given the season-ending knee injury to Ricky Pearsall while Jauan Jennings left in free agency for the Minnesota Vikings.
Stribling has lined up primarily in the slot at the “F” receiver, but he could work more as an “X” where veteran Mike Evans plays later on. Stribling missed a handful of practices while dealing with hamstring tightness before getting back on the field last Thursday.
“We were excited with some of the stuff he did the first week,” Shanahan said. “… I just love him getting the reps. We love the talent, love the character and just how he plays.”
Regarding Evans, he returned to practice Tuesday and participated in individual drills but didn’t appear in the full-team sessions. Evans has missed time with a quadriceps strain.
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