{"id":244642,"date":"2025-07-29T06:15:13","date_gmt":"2025-07-29T06:15:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/244642\/"},"modified":"2025-07-29T06:15:13","modified_gmt":"2025-07-29T06:15:13","slug":"49ers-defensive-line-rookie-c-j-west-stands-out-rest-in-camp-nbc-sports-bay-area-california","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/244642\/","title":{"rendered":"49ers defensive-line rookie C.J. West stands out rest in camp \u2013 NBC Sports Bay Area & California"},"content":{"rendered":"

SANTA CLARA \u2014 On Monday as the pads went on at training camp, the 49ers saw their first glimpse of what the team’s defensive-line rookies<\/a> might have to offer.<\/p>\n

Mykel Williams, Alfred Collins and C.J. West all took part in 1-on-1s and faced off with various offensive linemen. It was clear very early on what drew the scouting department and coaching staff to the three rookies.<\/p>\n

Williams visibly looks twitchier<\/a> than most, quicker off the line and, at 6-foot-5 and 267 pounds, obviously looks the part of an NFL player. Even 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh is impressed.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust look at him, right?\u201d Saleh said Monday. \u201cHe\u2019s very powerful. He\u2019s got great hands. He\u2019s got great leverage. He has great flexibility to go inside and out. He\u2019s unique in that regard, which we knew and which is why we were so excited to go get him. Every day he\u2019s just going to get better and prove that he belongs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Williams didn’t win all of his 1-on-1 reps, but it seems it only will be a matter of time before he’s more comfortable coming from the outside. In team drills, when lined up on the inside, the first-round 2025 NFL Draft pick often got into the backfield towards whomever was under center, and he took several reps with the \u201cfirst-team\u201d defense.<\/p>\n

Collins is even more noticeable on the field than Williams, with the same height and 65 additional pounds on his frame. With his size, the second-round pick<\/a> will need to learn to maintain a lower center of gravity to create leverage against offensive linemen, but Collins’ bull-rush still still apparent in 1-on-1s.<\/p>\n

West was the rookie who stood out the most in 1-on-1s Not only did he win all of his reps, but he seemed to lift 6-foot-5, 313-pound Dominick Puni off the ground at the point of contact. At 6-foot-1 and 316 pounds, West is solid and already knows how to use leverage to give himself an advantage.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s like a little fire hydrant, right?\u201d Saleh said. \u201cBut, he\u2019s powerful. He\u2019s got heavy hands. He\u2019s going to be fine. He\u2019s like a lot of rookies — there are so many things that they\u2019re learning, especially on the interior of the D-line where it\u2019s a game within a game.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

While West was exemplary facing one lineman at a time, he did not generate as much push during team drills, but that will come with the assistance of defensive line coach Kris Kocurek as well as Saleh.<\/p>\n

There also are several examples for the young players to follow in Nick Bosa<\/a> and newcomer Bryce Huff, who both stood out in team drills and got into the back field several times.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The 49ers will reconvene on the field Tuesday for another practice before their day off on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Download and follow the 49ers Talk Podcast<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SANTA CLARA \u2014 On Monday as the pads went on at training camp, the 49ers saw their first…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":244643,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2080],"tags":[220,583,14165,7,1493,6,1161,252,2624,2623],"class_list":{"0":"post-244642","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-francisco-49ers","8":"tag-49ers","9":"tag-alfred-collins","10":"tag-cj-west","11":"tag-football","12":"tag-mykel-williams","13":"tag-nfl","14":"tag-san-francisco","15":"tag-san-francisco-49ers","16":"tag-sanfrancisco","17":"tag-sanfrancisco49ers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114935059169880857","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=244642"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244642\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/244643"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=244642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=244642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=244642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}