On Thursday, the San Francisco 49ers held their seventh of 13 training camp practices at the SAP Performance Facility in Santa Clara, which started at 10:15 a.m.
The 49ers are a week away from their first exhibition game — a home matchup at Levi's Stadium against the Dallas Cowboys. With so many veterans given the day off, Thursday's practice was sloppier than others. Tackle Joe Staley, running back Jerick McKinnon, wide receiver Pierre Garçon, cornerback Richard Sherman, linebacker Malcolm Smith, and defensive linemen DeForest Buckner and Earl Mitchell did not practice.
While Buckner had the day off, defensive coordinator did talk about his impressive third-year defensive lineman after practice.
"Buck is doing everything right," he told reporters. "He's big. He's violent. He's agile. He's special. As long as Buck keeps going the way he's going, he will make noise. He can disrupt an entire practice if he wants to."
Below are some notes from Thursday's outing.
Garoppolo-to-Goodwin Connection
The Garoppolo-to-Goodwin connection has been on display for all of training camp. The two will make it tough for opposing teams to defend deep. Jimmy Garoppolo hit Marquise Goodwin in stride on a 55-yard deep ball down the left seam in practice. Goodwin will help Garoppolo's deep-ball accuracy statistics improve.
The Garoppolo-to-Goodwin deep-ball connection showed up twice during team drills, including a 75-yard touchdown. Each completion came against second-year cornerback Ahkello Witherspoon.
Quarterbacks
Jimmy Garoppolo kept his receivers on the field after practice to get in some extra work on deep passes. The group included Marquise Goodwin, Dante Pettis, Victor Bolden, Richie James, and Steven Dunbar.
Running Backs
Matt Breida had an impressive practice as the feature back with McKinnon receiving the day off to rest. Another second-year running back, Joe Williams, continues to look strong in training camp.
Linebackers
Rookie Fred Warner was wearing a blue no-contact jersey because of a chest injury but had a big hit on Kyle Juszczyk while breaking up a pass. Practice paused for a few minutes after the 49ers fullback got the wind knocked out of him. Defensive coordinator Robert Saleh said after practice that the contact was not intentional and that Juszczyk was fine.
"That was an accident," he said.
While Warner was able to avoid contact on several plays during practice, the one against Juszczyk just got away from him. The rookie was apologetic after the impact.
"That one was so quick and so fast, that it was almost like he was bracing for contact," Saleh continued.
Defensive Backs
Safety Adrian Colbert came away with a pick-six after the football got out of Kendrick Bourne's hands.
Saleh told reporters that he expects Jimmie Ward to return to practice on Friday.
Injuries
Tight end Cole Wick was carted off the practice field with an apparent knee injury. Wick joined the 49ers when he was signed to the practice squad on October 18, 2017.
The 49ers' next practice is scheduled for Friday morning at 10:15 a.m.
