Ray McDonald News

The 49ers may assemble for training camp in late July, but their first team practice won't be until Aug.

The 49ers have enjoyed excellent attendance thus far for their voluntary OTAs. Today? Eh, not so much.

The 49ers just wrapped up seven straight days of practice, the last three of which left their hard-to-please head coach with a warm feeling in his stomach.

General manager Scot McCloughan was on Sirius NFL radio this morning. What McCloughan said then, and what he reiterated to me later at the team's OTA practice today, is that Alex Smith is throwing the ball better than he has since joining the 49ers.

Then again, it's only June and players are running around in short pants with no pads.

The last few days has seen a variety of quotes from coaches that would seem to offer some indication as to what we can expect from certain players.

Friday marked the first day of 49ers minicamp, which of course meant the first day coach Mike Singletary could play down the status of the quarterback competition.

Ok, it's not earth-shattering news. But it is notable. In all the OTA's and minicamps heretofore, both Shaun Hill and Alex Smith have worked with the first-team offense but Hill always has received first crack.

And then there were none. One day after veteran receiver Isaac Bruce rejoined his teammates at OTAs, safety Mark Roman, who had been seeking a trade, did the same.

The 49ers begin another round of voluntary OTAs today, and they continue to have good attendance.

The 49ers will open up their first OTA today and there are a lot of questions that could be answered here.

Planning for "gold," with Goldson The 2009 San Francisco 49ers will not have big changes at positions of big need, such as quarterback or outside linebacker; but there are several ... Found Gold: Young San Francisco 49ers are Holding the Game Ball by Brian O'Flaherty 23 reads Opinion May 18, 2009 Planning for "gold," with Goldson The 2009 San ...

Frank Gore, Chilo Rachal and David Baas are exceptions for the 49ers as second- and third-round choices who project as starters in 2009.

The San Francisco 49ers have started signing their rookies and they have started with the easier contracts to get done - the ones for players selected on the second day... The San Francisco 49ers Sign Rookies Jean-Francois and McKillop by Andrew Garda 1 127 reads The San Francisco 49ers have started signing their rookies and they have started with ...

The 2009 OTAs kick off this coming Monday, so it seems as good a time as any to move on to our next set of offseason roster projections.

The 49ers trotted out the coordinators today before their second minicamp practice for rookies and young players.

The 49ers did not pick up a pass rusher in last month's draft, but defensive coordinator Greg Manusky insists his unit will have enough firepower this year.

Offensive coordinator Jimmy Raye had his first face-to-face media session since being hired three months ago.

The first player drafted by the 49ers in each of the past 10 years: Arguably the team's worst top pick ever, his not-so-illustrious career consisted of nine tackles and zero starts.

Of the nine teams ahead of the 49ers in this Saturday's NFL draft, seven have approached general manager Scot McCloughan about a trade.