49ers Now: Three young players make strong 53-man roster case vs. Raiders

"49ers Now" hosts Kylen Mills, Jennifer Lee Chan and Rod Brooks discuss which San Francisco players made a strong case to be on the 53-man roster.

49ers Now: Three young players make strong 53-man roster case vs. Raiders originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

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There also were a lot of guys on the field in Las Vegas who are trying to earn roles, fighting for spots, proving that they belong on the field during the regular season.

Let's look a little bit deeper at the wide receiver room.

Obviously headlined by veterans in Mike Evans, Deebo Samuel.

Rookie DeJoun Stribling has shown that he deserves a prominent role.

He has been beyond impressive, to pretty much everyone who's watched him throughout the course of the season.

But then the guy on the left of this graphic here, second year wide receiver Jordan Watkins also making a case for playing time.

Finished the night in Vegas with four receptions on eight targets for 64 yards, along with three carries for 27 yards.

Never really got to see Watkins' potential as a rookie last year, dealing with injuries, only played in four games.

What have you seen or what have what's been your evaluation, Rod, of Jordan Watkins now in year two as we see him finally back on the field in the preseason?

Well, the first part of the test he had to pass was being out there.

As we all say and as we all hear, the best ability is availability.

So Jordan Watkins being out there every day in camp was big step one for him.

And I've mentioned this a couple of times, that he has had an up and down camp as far as practices are concerned, because he would allow the ball to get into his body and not finish those receptions.

To go into, again as I mentioned, the last couple of preseason games against the Chargers and what we saw last night, to go into those games and improve on what he put out there as far as being on the practice field, you give Jordan Watkins a lot of credit for that.

He ascended as camp practices and training and, and preseason games went on.

So that solidified his role on this team as far as making the 53-man roster.

Kudos to him.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, I think it's really important that also he came into this training camp with an, a positive attitude.

Last year- Mm-hmm Leonard Hankerson said along with dealing with injuries, he came in kind of thinking he knew it all.

Not all, but you know, you guys, guys that come in that have a really successful college career maybe think that they know a little bit more than they think they do.

And generally when it's Kyle Shanahan running the offense, you really don't know that much.

So for him to come in really positive and to be willing to learn and put in the work, also because he's healthy, that helped him.

So I think this year he's done a lot better.

Now, there has been some ups and downs.

Kyle Shanahan never really gives a, a blanket, "Oh, you're doing amazing" kind of statement.

He even after the game last night, Kyle Shanahan said, "I'm glad he's been out there working hard.

There's been some ups and downs."

And we've seen it in practice.

There's been some drops.

There's been some miscommunication.

But then there's also been some big plays.

So as long as he can keep that trend going, he'll be a good contributor for the team.

Mm-hmm.

Let's hear from Jordan Watkins and what he had to say about his own performance after last night's game against the Raiders.

Jordan, after last year and dealing with some injuries, how does it feel to be back in, like the full swing of it?

Oh, it feels good.

It feels good to come out the preseason healthy.

You know, just going out there and putting my best foot forward and, you know, just putting, you know, what I feel like is my best ball on tape.

Obviously there's maybe some things to clean up and stuff like that, but I felt like I did a really good job going out there, staying healthy, playing a lot of plays and, you know, just showcasing what I got.

Do you enjoy being in the pass game and the run game equally?

Yeah.

You know, that's something that I've had to adapt to.

You know, Kyle challenged me last season to really be more physical.

And that's, you know, that's something that I really worked on and that had to do with bulking up a little bit and, you know, putting on some muscle and, you know, I feel like I really did a good job in the run game and especially after that first preseason game.

Going into the second one, I felt like I really had some really good blocking plays and, you know, that carried over to this week as well.

This is a pretty veteran offense, so how hard is it for a young guy to crack and have a job in this offense?

You know, like you said, it's very veteran.

A lot of guys have been here for a very long time.

But you know, I feel like you just gotta get in where you fit in.

I feel like, Kyle and John drafted me here for a reason, and that's because they see that I can make plays in this offense and that I fit in this offense.

So I just gotta figure out what that reason is, and, and you know, embrace it to the best of my ability, and that's just happened to do with embracing my role.

How did it feel out there with Adrian as quarterback?

It felt good.

You know, I feel like me and Adrian have a really good connection.

Just, you know, obviously we've connected on some plays, and you know, obviously we're not, but that's just wide receiver-quarterback play, you know?

He's got a lot going on in his head whenever he's, you know, taking the ball u- from the center and, you know, I got a lot to think about as well.

He's looking at the coverage and, you know, just so it's been fun.

Been fun.

Mack said he has a really good relationship with you, just telling you, kind of coaching you up, and that you take coaching really well.

Yeah.

Me and Mack, you know, it- I feel like that bond's been built over last camp.

You know, last year I was running with the twos a lot and obviously, he was, he was in whenever I was in and, you know, going back, the Broncos, whenever we hit that first big play in the first drive, like 50-something yards, I feel like that's carried over to this camp as well.

And then in Nashville, whenever we were in Nashville, he was there as well.

So just building that connection's been great with Mack.

So there you have it.

One of the young guys with a positive outing, you'd say, against the Raiders is Jordan Watkins, but there also were several guys competing for that backup running back role behind Christian McCaffrey.

One of those individuals, a second year back, Jordan James, made his preseason debut in Vegas, gained 55 yards from scrimmage on nine touches, eight carries for 35, and caught one of his two targets for 20 yards.

Kind of a weird situation with James being out dealing with a fractured rib or ribs after some contact on day two of camp.

I believe it was a collision with Fred Warner.

So he can catch, he's quick, he runs with no hesitation.

So far so good based on what we saw.

Did Jordan James show you anything, Jennifer, from what we saw last night, his first game action after missing quite a bit of preseason with that rib injury?

Yeah, I thought he ran with power, he ran with conviction.

Yeah.

He hit the hole really nicely.

So it was aggressive running.

He did have one miss where he had an illegal tackle which nullified a touchdown, which I'm sure is not great for him in re- regards to being evaluated by the staff.

But- He did come back in a strong performance, and I think it was kind of almost I needed to He needed to answer what Kalon Black did last week.

So Kalon Black in his Chargers pre-season debut really kind of lit it up.

Now, Kalon Black had a missed blitz pickup, which caused an incomplete from Mac Jones.

So they both had some ups and downs, and it really is just young players getting accustomed to being where they're supposed to be and knowing what exactly they're supposed to do.

But I think both of them have a solid chance to be the backup.

I think the scales are kind of leaning towards Kalon Black a little bit more, but I think both of them are very solid options.

I'm so excited- Hey, Rod about the depth of this running back room and what we've seen from Black really from the first couple of days of camp, even before they put on pads, all the way through what we saw last night with James coming out and, and proving that he can be, a guy to be a part of the Fist, as Christian McCaffrey calls it, you know, the guys inside of that Niners running back room.

Everybody has been dreaming.

Niner fans have been dreaming.

Kyle Shanahan has desired a running back or running backs that he felt like he could trust in all phases of the game, actually running the ball, pass protection, and also getting out there and pass plays, that he felt that he could put those guys on the field, give Christian McCaffrey a rest, and the talent drop-off not be that severe.

Now, clearly there's going to be a talent drop-off because we're talking about Christian McCaffrey, but if you have guys who can do enough in the process, Christian McCaffrey, who was used greatly last year, but they only averaged three point yards per carry, the lowest in the Shanahan era.

With the Snyder offense projecting to be better getting down the field, so that means lighter boxes and more opportunities to run, you can run Christian McCaffrey, but use him less, and also be able to use Black and James to take advantage of hopefully the lighter boxes the Niners offense will be facing this season.

To see this running back room be as strong as it is right now, I think is going to be one of the big stories of the year for the Niners, 'cause they have to run the ball better.

They have to.

Mm-hmm.

The rookie Kalon Black- I just have one more thing absolutely has been impressive.

Yeah, go ahead.

Yeah.

But let's not forget that previously the 49ers have run through four or five running backs in a season, so they need to have solid backups behind Christian McCaffrey.

Yeah.

So, I mean, we've seen injuries hit the team before, so to have solid backups is really a good thing.

To have more than one option, I think is- Mm-hmm what they really need to have for this offense.

Yeah, I was just gonna say that Kalon Black, you mentioned aggressive running style, like that is the same thing that I've seen, from him.

Again, he had 28 yards on four carries, which is seven yards per carry.

Going back to your point, Rod, I mean, I think that there are some very viable options behind Christian McCaffrey.

The third round draft pick, the rookie Kalon Black certainly is one of them who's in the mix and, and as Jennifer mentioned, maybe the scales are tipping in his favor.

On defense, another rookie who is again trying to prove that he deserves a role is Jaden Dugger, has played multiple positions throughout training camp, had a solid day, leading the team with a team high 10 tackles.

What's the outlook in your perspective, Rod, for Jaden Dugger on this gr- in this group?

I mean, obviously he's going to make the team, and he's going to get a lot of run.

The thing is, you have to remember he's a rookie, and when he's out there in space, at, at times he's going to look like a rookie.

But when he has to go and chase someone down, as he did with the pressure on Mendoza last night, as he did with getting those tackles, as we saw a couple of weeks ago when he chased down Cam Ward, who is an exceptional athlete at the quarterback position, when Dugger has to do that, he, he's money.

But you're going to have to put up with, again, him being a rookie and when he's out there in space.

As the season goes on, you hope that he projects to get better, but there are going to be some growing pains.

But what's not to, to, to dream about with the young man in terms of just his physical ability, his long arms, y- you know, he, he moves very fluidly.

You can see the vision in terms of what the Niners are thinking about with Dugger.

The sky's the limit, but you're going to have to deal with some growing pains.

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