{"id":679027,"date":"2026-01-15T10:57:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-15T10:57:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/679027\/"},"modified":"2026-01-15T10:57:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-15T10:57:12","slug":"49ers-news-seeing-fred-at-practice-has-me-ready-to-run-through-a-wall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/679027\/","title":{"rendered":"49ers News: Seeing Fred at practice has me ready to run through a wall"},"content":{"rendered":"

49ers\u2019 Warner back at practice. \u2018Fred is different from anybody else\u2019 (paywall)<\/a>
\u201cHe appeared to run and jump with an intensity his peers have grown accustomed to mimicking. His presence alone injected energy and fresh stakes for a team beginning to realize it may be one win away from seeing the perennial All-Pro linebacker, who also happens to be the longest active 49ers team captain, call tails at the pregame coin toss.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just think the fact that Fred even has a jersey on, less than 100 days after what happened to him,\u201d Trent Williams<\/a> said, \u201cthat just uplifts the team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Warner did not take a back seat to anyone in his first practice back, resuming his role as line leader. He took every first rep with his position group. The order of operations served as a reminder, particularly for a run-down 49ers roster in the middle of another short week, how it\u2019s done.<\/p>\n

\u201cGuys are like, man, 54 is right there around the corner,\u201d Purdy said. \u201cObviously, we do our job, handle our business, then we can get him back. \u2026 Guys feed off that. He\u2019s the captain here, man. He\u2019s the guy that we all follow.\u201d<\/p>\n

As fellow linebackers ran over to join Warner ahead of individual drills, he flipped his dreadlocks back, strapped up his helmet and dapped up the guys. All signs that it was time to go to work. Warner ran ahead of his teammates to demonstrate.<\/p>\n

He dug in his cleats, some few steps right of a sled. He shuffled to the left at many paces, preparing to launch. He punched through the bag, which clanked its usual clank. He sprinted to pursue the ball carrier, who in this case was a defenseless 49ers staffer. He leaped past, so as not to injure anyone on his first day back.<\/p>\n

Warner then ran by the horde of cameras following his every move, and hollered: \u201cGod damn, we look good!\u201d<\/p>\n

49ers star Fred Warner instantly brings \u2018pure energy\u2019 in return to practice<\/a>
\u201cIt is not likely that Warner will be cleared to play against the Seahawks, coach Kyle Shanahan said. But the 49ers hope Warner could be available if the team advances to the NFC Championship Game on Jan. 24.\u201d<\/p>\n

49ers\u2019 Ricky Pearsall expects to play Saturday while being more mindful of balky knee<\/a>
\u201cOn that individual play, getting out of bounds is the wiser move,\u201d said Pearsall, who was limited in Wednesday\u2019s practice. \u201cI landed straight on my knee and I just can\u2019t take tackles like that right now. Because I\u2019m just going to have setbacks if I continue to land on the knee. \u2026 Being able to adjust a little bit within my game is something I\u2019m kind of learning as I go about it.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd what I learned after that tackle, actually, on the plays going forward, the catches that I have, just be a little bit smarter. Get as many yards as you can, but don\u2019t take big hits.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pearsall said he hasn\u2019t been able to reach top speed since he was hurt in Week 4, but maintained the injury hasn\u2019t impacted his route-running when he\u2019s been able to play. He\u2019s had 16 catches for 201 yards in five games since returning from the six-game absence.<\/p>\n

If he returns Saturday, he\u2019ll do so more mindful of his injury while accepting there are limits to what he\u2019ll do to protect his right knee.\u201c<\/p>\n

How the 49ers\u2019 approach will change for another short-week game vs. the Seahawks (paywall)<\/a>
\u201cThe 49ers are also likely to practice differently this week than they did in Week 18.<\/p>\n

Shanahan noted the regular-season finale against the Seahawks was the 49ers\u2019 third game in 13 days and that the team had no full-speed practice periods beforehand. Two of the three walk-through practices that week were held at night under the lights of Levi\u2019s Stadium to allow players to get extra sleep in the morning.<\/p>\n

The team emphasized sleep and recovery on Tuesday as well. The 49ers\u2019 charter flight got back from Philadelphia around 1 a.m. Monday, and Shanahan didn\u2019t have the players come in until 10 a.m. Tuesday. They usually spend seven hours at the facility when they begin their week of practice; on Tuesday, they were in the office for only 3 1\/2 hours.<\/p>\n

But the rest of the week promises to be more intense. And it\u2019s likely that Wednesday\u2019s and Thursday\u2019s practices will be harder than they were before the last meeting with the Seahawks, one in which the 49ers defense had a season-high 18 missed tackles and the offense scored a season-low three points\u2026..Fullback Kyle Juszczyk, meanwhile, said in hindsight he wished the 49ers had pushed themselves through their end-of-season fatigue, instead of forgoing full-speed practice periods.<\/p>\n

\u201cPhysiologically, you want to try and touch those top speeds like once every four to five days, even if it\u2019s for one rep,\u201d he said. \u201cYou just want to be able to touch it. It reinforces your nervous system to understand what it\u2019s like to get there. It\u2019s counterintuitive in that you think rest is better. But sometimes doing less is not doing more for those types of things.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kawakami: The 49ers have a chip on their shoulders and no time for self-pity (paywall)<\/a>
\u201cThe coach was in sandals, most of the morning meetings were waved off, the locker-room mood was positive but murmuring at notably lower decibels than usual, and the practice work and basically the entire day unwound at decidedly less than half-speed.<\/p>\n

Yes, it was Casual Tuesday in the 49ers\u2019 previously manic playoff run.<\/p>\n

And folks, right now they really need as much serenity as possible. Tuesday is usually a treasured day off, but because the 49ers are playing their huge divisional-round playoff game in Seattle on Saturday, this week\u2019s schedule had to be moved up 24 hours.<\/p>\n

Of course, the 49ers couldn\u2019t speed up the healing of their bruised bodies and frayed nerves from their tense victory over the Eagles on Sunday evening and long flight back home that night.<\/p>\n

In fact, that probably explains why the locker room seemed fairly empty during the media period \u2014 who can give interviews when almost everybody has to queue up for treatment?<\/p>\n

So maybe there was a little more sarcasm than usual; better to joke about their massive rest disadvantage against the Seahawks than to sound grumpy and bitter.\u201c<\/p>\n

How 49ers\u2019 Eric Kendricks went from nearly calling it quits to calling a playoff defense (paywall)<\/a>
\u201cLast summer he was working out at UCLA with a group of NFL players. Two months ago, however, Kendricks was training by himself at his alma mater and wondering whether he was toiling for an opportunity that wouldn\u2019t materialize.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll my friends that were working out with me were back on teams at other places and I was kind of just like, \u2018Should I call it? Should I call it in? Should I not work out today?\u2019\u201d Kendricks said. \u201cAnd then it was just kind of like, nah, stick to the routine. Stick to the grind. I knew something was going to pop up that was good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Saleh, Kubiak, Purdy preview 49ers-Seahawks Divisional Round matchup<\/a>
\u201cYour rookie defensive tackles have made some strides over the last month or so. What do you see from those guys particularly in the run game?<\/p>\n

\u201cThe biggest thing is they\u2019re learning in terms of the different blocking combinations that they can get. It\u2019s a lot more complex than what they would\u2019ve seen in college. They\u2019re doing a really nice job disengaging faster than when it first started. They\u2019ve gotten better every week. They\u2019re very deliberate in everything they\u2019ve been doing and we\u2019re obviously really excited about their trajectory.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"49ers\u2019 Warner back at practice. \u2018Fred is different from anybody else\u2019 (paywall)\u201cHe appeared to run and jump with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":679028,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2080],"tags":[220,52307,7,6,1161,252,1137,2624,2623],"class_list":{"0":"post-679027","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-49ers-links","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-nfl","12":"tag-san-francisco","13":"tag-san-francisco-49ers","14":"tag-san-francisco-49ers-news","15":"tag-sanfrancisco","16":"tag-sanfrancisco49ers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115898761389281464","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/679027","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=679027"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/679027\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/679028"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=679027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=679027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=679027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}