Category: NFL News

49ers QBs compare, contrast NFL journeys at Dwight Clark Legacy Series originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

Four Pro Bowl quarterbacks, including Pro Football Hall of Famer Steve Young, recently gathered on stage to share stories, life lessons and raise money for former 49ers in times of need.

Young, Jeff Garcia, Alex Smith and Brock Purdy took part in a panel discussion as part of the Dwight Clark Legacy Event, which will air Tuesday night on NBC Sports Bay Area immediately following “Giants Postgame Live.”

The event raised more than $200,000 for the Golden Heart Fund, which supplies a wide variety of benefits and services for former 49ers players and their families.

Young, Garcia and Smith earned multiple Pro Bowl honors throughout their careers, while Purdy was named the NFC Pro Bowl starter last season after leading the NFL in passer rating (113.0) and yards per pass attempt (9.6).

“We’re up here — us three — because we were able to create longevity in something that very few are able to create and experience and have the success that we’ve had,” Garcia said. “And now Brock is scratching the surface. And he’s so much further ahead than probably we were at this same time frame.”

Each individual spoke about the challenges of navigating life as the starting quarterback for the 49ers. Garcia had the almost impossible assignment of following Young and four-time Super Bowl-winning quarterback Joe Montana.

Then, along came Alex Smith as the No. 1 overall pick in the 2005 NFL Draft.

“There had never been a franchise that had a Joe and Steve,” Smith said. “That had never happened. And then you throw in Jeff. He set the franchise record for yards, so he carried it on. All of a sudden to be the No. 1 overall pick as a 20-year-old. Those are things I never dealt with. I had one college scholarship offer.

“I felt like I had to be Joe Montana, Steve Young and Peyton Manning as the No. 1 overall pick for the San Francisco 49ers. And it was a lot. I…

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The San Francisco 49ers have gotten some much-needed depth at tight behind behind George Kittle. The team is signing longtime Commanders tight end Logan Thomas, according to NFL Media. Thomas has been available since Washington released him in March. 

Thomas, 32, is coming off his best season since 2020. He caught 55 passes for 496 yards and four touchdowns. Thomas played an integral role in the Commanders’ surprising NFC East title run back in 2020. He has 219 receptions for 2,002 yards and 16 touchdowns while playing for the Cardinals, Bills and Commanders. 

As noted above, Thomas provides valuable depth behind Kittle, who last year was selected to the Pro Bowl for the fifth time over the past six years. Brayden Willis, a 2023 seventh-round pick who is currently just behind Kittle on the projected depth chart, did not catch a pass during his rookie season. The same can be said of fellow second-year…

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ESPN projection system gives 49ers best odds to win Super Bowl 59 originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

The 49ers will win their sixth Vince Lombardi Trophy in 2025 — according to an NFL projection system, that is.

In a recent article, Seth Walder of ESPN’s analytics department revealed that ESPN’s Football Power Index (FPI) predicts San Francisco has the best odds to win Super Bowl LIX over rival contenders.

In a recent article, ESPN’s Seth Walder department revealed that Football Power Index (FPI) predicts San Francisco has the best odds to win Super Bowl LIX over rival contenders.

Here are, in order of highest percentages, the five favorites to win it all next season:

49ers (16 percent), Kansas City Chiefs (12 percent), Detroit Lions (10 percent), Dallas Cowboys (nine percent) and Baltimore Ravens (eight percent).

Of course “Cowboys” doesn’t pair well with anything close to “Super Bowl winner,” so the projection system might not be too accurate. However, it’s an otherwise promising outlook for San Francisco’s next season, which usually isn’t the case for the previous season’s Super Bowl loser.

“The 49ers’ edge in quality over the Ravens and Chiefs is narrow, but because San Francisco plays in the weaker NFC, its championship chances (16%) are notably higher than any other club’s,” Walder said. “San Francisco has a 25% chance to reach the Super Bowl and a 16% chance to win it — both best in the league.

“We can debate the true division of credit among quarterback Brock Purdy, coach Kyle Shanahan and the 49ers’ plethora of talented skill position players, but it all adds up to a championship contender as long as running back Christian McCaffrey, wide receivers Brandon Aiyuk and Deebo Samuel, and tight end George Kittle remain healthy and productive…”

Ironically, FPI expects San Francisco to face Kansas City in the Super Bowl yet again. In order of highest percentage, here are the six most-expected Super Bowl LIX matchups:

49ers vs….

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C.J. Stroud did some back-tracking after revealing his initial list of the NFL’s top-five quarterbacks based off of the 2023 season. One of the things that remained consistent, however, was Stroud’s inclusion of Dallas Cowboys’ quarterback Dak Prescott.  

In order, Stroud initially tabbed Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson, himself, Prescott and Jalen Hurts as the NFL’s top quarterbacks during an appearance on the “Million Dollaz Worth of Game” podcast. Stroud later called an audible, however. 

In his updated list (which he posted on his Instagram account), Stroud kept the top-three quarterbacks the same, but gave the No. 4 spot to Josh Allen and moved Prescott to the fifth and final spot while omitting Hurts. Stroud added that he feels Joe Burrow is also among the NFL’s top 5 quarterbacks. Burrow, though, missed nearly half of the 2023 season with an injury, which was surely the reason why he was left off of Stroud’s list. 

Stroud took some heat on the podcast for his inclusion of Prescott, who led the NFL last season with 36 touchdown passes. Prescott also led Dallas to a 12-5 record to improve to 73-41 as the Cowboys’ starting quarterback since 2016. Prescott fell to 2-5 as a postseason starter, however, after Dallas was upset by Jordan Love and the Packers in the NFC wild card round. 

“Dak’s that boy,” Stroud said. “Ya’ll not gonna say that because he ain’t won the big one yet.”

Polarizing would be a good word to sum up Prescott’s career so far. He hit the ground running as a rookie, leading the Cowboys to a 13-3 record en route to Pro Bowl and Offensive Rookie of the Year Honors. But his numbers (and the Cowboys’ record) dipped in 2017, largely due to running back Ezekiel Elliott’s six-game suspension. 

Prescott returned to his Pro Bowl form in 2018 while helping lead the Cowboys to only their third playoff win since the franchise’s last Super Bowl triumph. He put up big…

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Yahoo Sports fantasy analysts Matt Harmon and Andy Behrens discuss the ups and downs of the Jacksonville quarterback and where he ranks heading into this season. Hear the full conversation on the “Yahoo Fantasy Football Show” podcast – and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen.

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Video Transcript

So let’s just quickly have the Trevor Lawrence conversation.

I know Andy, by the time we were got done with the panic meter segment last year, we were so sick of talking about the Jaguars offense.

I think we, we put, we definitely, we put them in the coping corner, right?

It feel, it feels like we probably did at some point.

Uh My God, that that might as well be a different lifetime ago, talk about the damn coping corner.

Um but yeah, Trevor Lawrence, like what, what, how bullish are you about Lawrence in terms of like making that leap?

Um because a again like quarterback ranking wise, like people still that, you know, like, uh Derek Claton who does, you know, charting work for us at reception perception on quarterbacks like he still is very bullish on Trevor Lawrence as a real life quarterback.

Um Obviously for from a fantasy perspective last year, it was a really like a stone cold disaster because he was the type of guy that you just kind of like kept rolling out.

You really could never stream somebody over him.

Uh So you couldn’t believe it was the worst fantasy quarterback to have last year to draft.

Um, what, what, what’s the Trevor Lawrence outlook like this season?

Yeah, you wouldn’t, I mean, you wouldn’t know it from my fantasy ranks.

Right.

Because I’m not particularly bullish on them.

I’ve got them in the, I’ve got them in the higher teens, I think, like, maybe QB, 1718, something like that.

And part of the reason for that is I, I’ve, I’ve kind of resigned myself to the fact that we’re just, the Jaguars are not gonna let him run.

Um, he was a, he was a great running quarterback at the college level and like, he, in my mind, he is somebody who…

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The approach to measuring how successful an NFL team’s pass rush is isn’t an exact science. So, what’s more important: sack numbers or quarterback pressure numbers?

For the Detroit Lions, the 2023 NFC runner-up, the answer is multi-faceted. The Lions’ 41 sacks as a defense this past season ranked 23rd despite having a top-five quarterback pressure total (274, the third-most in the NFL) and rate (41.6%, the fourth-best in the NFL). The issue was converting their consistent quarterback pressure into sacks, which they did at a rate of 6.5%, the 11th-lowest in the NFL. 

Detroit head coach Dan Campbell said he would “absolutely” prefer to have better sack figures than pressure figures in a vacuum, but he also explained the nuance about sacks versus quarterback pressure rate in depth this week. 

 Detroit head coach Dan Campbell said he would “absolutely” prefer to have better sack figures than pressure figures in a vacuum, but he also explained the nuance about sacks versus quarterback pressure rate in depth this week. 

“Sacks aren’t that big of a deal as long you’re getting the pressures,” Campbell said at his press conference on Thursday. “As long as you’re getting pressures, and those pressures show up and affect the quarterback negatively, you know? Now would you rather have sacks? Absolutely, I would rather have sacks. The loss of yardage, all of those things, but the pressures … a pressure that affects the quarterback. … We watched a couple clips this morning in front of the team. Quarterback is wanting to step up. He can’t step up, the throw is high. He’s flipping to his right, and he can’t get his hips around. Throw a pick. These things that end up in negative plays as incomplete, as turnovers, whatever, I’ll take those all day long.”

The problem for the Lions in 2023, despite all their success, is their consistent pressure didn’t always result in generating a negative play…

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The 49ers made Trey Lance the third overall pick in the draft after he had started just 17 games at North Dakota State. Then they traded him to the Cowboys after he had started just four games in San Francisco. Lance never played a down in his first year with the Cowboys, so there still isn’t much to evaluate him on. But coach Mike McCarthy likes what he sees this offseason.

McCarthy said Lance is “definitely” an improved quarterback compared to where he was when he arrived in Dallas last year, and that his work in learning the Cowboys’ offense has been outstanding.

“Young quarterback comes into a new system, so you got the learning curve, but now starting to get the timing with the routes,” McCarthy said. “He’s close to being a master of the system. He has a really high understanding. He’s communicating very well. He looks more and more comfortable. He just needs reps. I know I say that every time I talk about him. He just needs as many reps as he can.”

Lance probably isn’t going to do much in Dallas, given that he’s behind not only Dak Prescott but also Cooper Rush on the depth chart. But all he can do now is put in the work in the offseason, and McCarthy says that’s what he’s doing. Perhaps some day, Lance will actually get some significant playing time.

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Bears included in a unique slate of ‘Hard Knocks’ documentary versions originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago

The Bears will be the offseason subject of this season’s HBO documentary, “Hard Knocks,” the team, NFL and Max announced on Thursday.

This version of “Hard Knocks” is not to be confused with two other versions HBO will run this season.

On May 15, NFL Films and HBO announced “Hard Knocks: Offseason with the New York Giants.” This new version of the show will follow the Giants’ offseason venture from the end of the 2023 season to the beginning of the summer, presumably highlighting their moves in NFL free agency and the 2024 NFL Draft.

That version of the show will debut on July 2, close to one month away from the premiere of the Bears’ version of “Hard Knocks.”

Additionally, HBO will run their in-season version of the documentary for a fourth straight season. In the past, like their offseason version, “Hard Knocks” follows one team throughout the regular season.

This season, the documentary will follow an entire division. Considering the Bears have been named the subject of the offseason version, it’s unlikely HBO will follow the NFC North. But that’s just speculation.

The Bears’ appearance on the show this offseason will mark the first in franchise history. The show started in 2001, with gaps in between. But there’s no question the Bears’ participation stemmed from the NFL’s clause in their contract with HBO that can force a team’s participation in the documentary.

To force a team to participate, a team must meet these three criteria:

1) The team does not have a new head coach

2) The team has not made the playoffs in the previous two seasons

3) The team hasn’t been on “Hard Knocks” in the past 10 years

Only three teams qualified under the above criteria this offseason: the Broncos, Saints and Bears. The Bears have employed head coach Matt Eberflus for two seasons, they have not made the playoffs since 2020 and this appearance will mark the franchise’s first…

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