I’ve been thinking of volunteering as a wide receiver for the San Francisco 49ers.
Normally I would say I’ve aged out of this pursuit, but it seems like Kyle Shanahan could use my help seeing as he’s just about down to asking innocent bystanders if they’ve ever caught a forward pass or even been in autograph-asking range of Brock Purdy.
My own football playing career was brief — but painful. As a mighty 128-pound running back at Washington High in San Francisco I was blindsided by an inanimate (and innocent looking) gate that we power backs had to run through during gauntlet drills. The gate won.
The gate wound up being the starter that year. I returned to my previous pursuit as assistant to the head cheerleader.
I blame it all on the fact that nobody ever taught me how to put hip pads on. Hitting a 12-arm Power Blaster head on with backward hip pads resulted in my being on injured reserve for the next 55 years.
I think now, I may be ready for a comeback. I still have 4.5 speed. That is to say I only run on April 5. And, I now tip the scales at a soft 152 pounds. Defenders don’t bounce off me — I absorb them.
The 49ers have now played one preseason game and had two other controlled scrimmages against teams other than their own. As to the game itself, the only individuals who derive anything of value out of this exercise in NFL greed are perhaps the groundskeepers, the lucky seagull who managed a half-eaten sandwich under a seat, and the President of the Tanner Mordecai fan club.
Rosters are assembled mostly from parts put together in practice during this time of year. In the case of this years version of the 49ers there are a lot of new parts and a lot of assembly required.
The bottom line for me — even at this early date — is that I think this is going to be a team that will get better as the season goes on, and that the training camp woes that seem to mount with every bodily tweak, will be buoyed by what appears to be a draft class that belongs.
This is that day of reckoning when first-year players who have been All-Pro since grammar school come to the startling realization that the biggest, toughest, and fastest opponent they’d ever come up against isn’t as big, fast, or tough as the receptionist in an NFL training camp.
A former NFL All-Pro running back once put it in perspective for me when he said, “In high school, if you see the outside linebacker out of the corner of your eye, you know who can run by him or through him. In college, if you see the outside linebacker out of the corner of your eye, you know you’ve got one move to get by him or around him. In the NFL, if you see the outside linebacker out of the corner of your eye….too late.”
So, the reason games don’t so much matter as much as practice this time of year is reps. The more reps, the more you learn. The more you learn, the less you have to think. There’s just no time to think in today’s NFL.
And that’s why I feel this team will be better as the season goes on. More reps….less thinking.
Last year’s preseason was marked with contract strife, holdouts, the usual slew of injuries, and more off field news emanating from training camp than any other team in the league. Ahh, but this year? No holdouts!
OK, so we do have a hold-IN, and the usual slew of injuries and contract strife. But the bigger news that comes out of camp is the influx of what appears to be a talented draft class, the health of key players like Christian McCaffrey and Trent Williams, and that the conversation about Jauan Jennings is as much about his blue hair as it is about contract demands for pay commensurate with his contributions last year. The hold-in will end. The blue hair — I’m not so sure.
For a lot of the 90 or so warm bodies still in camp, time to prove themselves is growing short. The “Turk” is lurking, and so is that promising career in worm farming. So from someone who has suffered the shame of having an All-Pro NFL career snatched from him as a high school sophomore, I offer to this year’s hopefuls these subtle signs that you might not make the final 53 man roster.
You know something could be up if:
Somebody else shows up at practice wearing your number.
Where your name appeared on the depth chart it now says “occupant.”
You show up for practice and your locker is in the parking lot.
There’s a note that says your cleats have been donated to the Boys and Girls Club.
Your playbook has a “return by” date on it.
Instead of a roommate, you’re sharing a dorm room with a tackling dummy.
Your per-diem check included a travel voucher.
Instead of being tended to by a member of the team medical staff you’re sent to Urgent Care in a pedi-cab.
You know you could be in trouble when Trent Williams snatches you out of the food line as his entree.
You are the only player left in the wide receiver room, and you’re not listed as a starter.
The first page of your playbook contains a release form that must be signed by a parent or guardian.
Kyle Shanahan asks you to leave the team meeting because he thinks you’re the pizza delivery guy.
You might have fallen to the bottom of the depth chart when you are assigned a uniform with a three-digit number.
And with that, it’s on to preseason game two.
I’ll be watching The Great British Baking Show.
Barry Tompkins is a 40-year network television sportscaster and a San Francisco native. Email him at barrytompkins1@gmail.com.
Originally Published: August 14, 2025 at 5:06 PM PDT