Good Morning Faithful,
Here are your top 49ers storylines for Thursday, July 9.
Subject to Change: Race and Police Brutality in America
In the first episode of Subject to Change, Steve Wyche moderates a conversation between Richard Sherman, Arik Armstead, Jimmy Garoppolo and Robbie Gould about race and police brutality in America and how can we evoke change.
"I try to view things from a different perspective. To have more empathy for people who I don't share the same life experience as," said Armstead. "I think if you get in that thought process of truly working on yourself and working to strip away your own stereotyping of people or anything you use to divide or separate and put people in certain groups, I feel that that's what we have to get to. That's what we have to continue to strive for and continue to improve as people. And all of us do. Whether that's stereotyping a black guy, thinking he's a criminal. Whether that's stereotyping a middle eastern person, thinking all middle eastern people are terrorists and if you practice Islam, you're a terrorist. Stripping away all those things. We have to shift our brains, shift our focus and continue to improve in those areas. I think we all do, and I think that will improve society and work towards treating everybody equally. Realizing that we have more in common than society tells us. That we're more alike than we are different."
NFL's Best Cornerback Trios
Pro Football Focus writer Solomon Wilcots listed the top cornerback trios heading into the 2020 season. Coming in at the No. 2 spot were the 49ers trio of Sherman, K'Waun Williams and Emmanuel Moseley. San Francisco's secondary finished the 2019 season allowing the lowest yards per reception average (9.7) and passing yards per game (169.2) in the NFL.
"Sherman earned the highest individual coverage grade (90.1) among cornerbacks in the regular season and led the way while allowing only one touchdown reception on 549 coverage snaps," wrote Wilcots. "Backing him up, slot cornerback K'Waun Williams earned an impressive 76.5 coverage grade as an inside defender, the seventh-best grade among the NFL's 47 qualifying slot defenders. Fellow corner Emmanuel Moseley earned a 68.0 PFF coverage grade on the year — a top-50 grade among corners — and he even posted a 20th-ranked coverage grade (74.8) on passes thrown in three seconds or less, which is one of the more stable metrics that we can use to assess cornerback play."
"Quality Time" in Nashville
George Kittle and Trent Taylor were seen on social media working out with other NFL pass catchers in Nashville Tenn., including with Detroit Lions tight end, and University of Iowa alumni, T.J. Hockenson. Players have three weeks before they arrive in Santa Clara to begin training camp on July 28. Without an in-person offseason program, players have had to create a more rigorous at-home training regime to complement the virtual sessions held by San Francisco's coaching staff. Kittle made headlines in May when he posted a workout with a throwing machine, complete with Joker detailing.
