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“Carlos Hyde is the slowest and most indecisive running back on the team… But he doesn’t seem to have the vision to succeed in Kyle Shanahan’s outside-zone running scheme. Tuesday, he was the only running back who never found a hole to run through. On one stretch play, he missed a cutback lane, tried to bounce around the outside even though the linebacker had set the edge and lost three yards. The Niners should trade him to a team that runs the zone read.”
– Grant Cohn, The Press Democrat
We typically get a bunch of irrelevant fluff from beat reporters during OTAs, but this looks like legit flames coming from 49ers beat writer Grant Cohn. We’ve heard the Joe Williams hype, and the more we hear of Hyde’s decline in this offense, the more realistic this actually looks. Hyde is on a contract year, Shanahan is in full-rebuild mode and he was more than ecstatic when John Lynch pulled the trigger on Williams. We see smoke in the horizon coming out of the Bay Area, and where there’s smoke, there’s usually fire.
“There have been times where I [am] seriously injured, but I still go,” Bryant said. “I know for a fact that a lot of guys that play my position couldn’t do that. The way that I feel now, I’m not dealing with really anything. I feel damn good. I know once I’m 100 [percent], I’m hard to deal with.
“That confidence is just steady expanding. I’m going to keep working each and every day. I’ll tell you this, I’ve never been [more] ready for training camp.”
– Dez Bryant, Cowboys WR
A healthy, rejuvenated and motivated Dez Bryant is the best Dez Bryant. Coming off back-to-back seasons where he battled through foot, ankle, back and knee injuries, a full offseason to get back to 100-percent is just what he needed. Dez’s fantasy stock will always be highest with Tony Romo than it will be with Dak Prescott, but I think The Wolf has it right with ranking him as WR8 and overall No. 15.
Stefon Diggs said today that he was never the same last season after a groin injury in Week 4. "Stuff like that is on me, staying healthy."
— Matt Vensel (@mattvensel) May 31, 2017
Even though Stefon Diggs posted 84 catches last season, he fell off a cliff after a hot start. Diggs was a DFS monster and solid WR2 early-on, but it looks like he played the remainder of the season through a groin injury. Diggs seems to have been forgotten about this season, but he has put up 136 catches and 1,623 yards during his first two seasons despite missing six games. If healthy, the former Terp should put up 90-plus receptions and 1,000-plus yards.
Quick Slants:
- Per the same 49ers beat writer who broke the Hyde news above, also mentioned that Pierre Garcon ‘looks old’ and ‘struggled getting open.’ Just strange and negative news regarding two of the more talented players on the 49ers offensive depth chart.
- Per Chuck Pagano, Jack “The Beanstalk” Doyle has earned Andrew Luck’s trust. As huge “Beanstalk” guys, he’s earned our trust too.
- Jarvis Landry believes he was double-teamed on half of the team’s passing plays the past two seasons and he thinks the addition of Julius Thomas will open things up for him in the slot.
- Ezekiel Elliott returned to practice after getting banged up in a car accident. Looks like the Cowboys weren’t lying when they said he didn’t suffer a concussion.
- Ty Montgomery has bulked up to 220 lbs, making the former wideout the most yoked up back on the depth chart — don’t sleep on Montgomery even though the Packers added multiple RBs in the draft.
- “Fat” Rob Kelley has trimmed his body fat down from 18-percent to 13-percent. He knows he’s in for a dogfight with Samaje Perine for the starting job.
- Texans WR Braxton Miller is working hard with new assistant wide receiver coach Wes Welker. There’s no better slot receiver to work with than Wes.
