49ers
49ers QB Mac Jones is doing what he can to have a career resurgence and is starting with watching film to observe mistakes, including not fully committing to throws and not doing enough to protect the ball.
“My goal is to really just have great attempts like, you know, is the ball supposed to go there?” Jones said, via Nick Wagoner of ESPN. “And if it is, then let it fly and be committed to it. Sometimes when you watch my film, it wasn’t a full commitment throw and I want to get better at that. … That’s the whole point of football is to try those throws, learn from them, and then when you get to the game you can say, ‘Hey, I can do this,’ or ‘I’m going to check this one down, you know, I’m trying to protect the ball.’ So, I’ve learned the hard way in a way.”
“The world works in mysterious ways,” Jones added, laughing. “I’m glad to be back here and learning from a great group of guys, and that’s players and coaches. So, you go where you go in the draft, right? You don’t get a lot of choice over that, but I’m definitely excited to be here now.”
Niners HC Kyle Shanahan is watching Jones closely as he makes strides to improve.
“To watch him go through those three weeks working on some technique things and just how we see football, I’m hoping it helps him and he enjoys it,” Shanahan said. “[If] you go through all these practices and you never throw a pick, you’re probably not getting better,” Shanahan said. “It’s hard when you get in that stadium and things like that. Not only are you getting hit for the first time, but now all that stuff counts and if you don’t let it rip and go through all that in practice, you’re not going to get any better in the games and then it’s usually a matter of time before someone passes you up.”
Cardinals
Cardinals WR Greg Dortch has become the longest-tenured player on the team, but he expressed his desire to continue his work on special teams. Dortch also talked about his excitement for the tweaks to kickoff return rules that should lead to more returns.
“That’s been my niche in the NFL — special teams — and it will always be my niche,” Dortch said, via Jess Root of the Cards Wire. “That’s the way into a roster, and I take special teams very seriously.”
“I’m super excited for that. At the beginning of last year, I was hoping to step into more of a role on kick return. I was just mainly a punt returner. DeeJay took one back the first game (a 96-yard kickoff return touchdown). I was cool with that, but just to be back there with him now, I’m definitely excited to step into that role.”
Rams
Rams RB Kyren Williams is entering the final year of his rookie contract and is set to be an unrestricted free agent in 2026. Sean McVay said there’s been “back and forth” dialogue between the organization and Williams on a contract extension.
“There’s been a lot of back and forth. There’s been some good proposals on both sides,” McVay said, via RamsWire. “We are getting closer to hopefully finding a conclusion to this. Now, until that’s actually agreed upon from both sides, we’re really in the same boat. But behind the scenes, there’s been really good dialogue from Drew (Rosenhaus), really good dialogue from Kyren and his group overall. He’s done everything in his power to show up, be that pro, that leader, everything we’ve asked. We’re trying to be able to solve that, and if we’re able to land that, we’ll be excited about that but no different than really kind of when we spoke about this last week. But I think behind the scenes, there has been progress in terms of getting closer to what the end goal is and that’s to be able to get him under contract. Whether that occurs or not, we’ll see and we’ll take that a day at a time and a conversation at a time.”
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