Matt Barrows

1 week ago | nytimes.com | Matt Barrows

They're not booing. They're yelling, "Pooooh!!"That's my vision for this year's Draft Crush, Ole Miss linebacker Chris Paul Jr., better known to teammates and college football fans by his family nickname, Pooh. No, the San Francisco 49ers won't take Paul with their first-round pick and probably won't with their second rounder, either. Those two selections likely will go toward rebuilding the trenches.

2 weeks ago | nytimes.com | Matt Barrows

SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Stanford receiver Elic Ayomanor, who could be the first Bay Area product drafted later this month, was only an observer at Wednesday's local pro day. But he's gotten plenty of exposure to the San Francisco 49ers over the past two seasons. And he said all the right things. "I know one thing - they ask their receivers to block a lot," Ayomanor said of the 49ers' system. "And that's something I'm willing to do and am very eager to do. ...

2 weeks ago | nytimes.com | Matt Barrows

The final question San Francisco 49ers CEO Jed York fielded at this week's annual league meeting was whether he felt the Brock Purdy contract talks have been productive. "I don't negotiate contracts," he said, "but any conversations I've had with Brock personally have been great. So I feel good. And when he's ready, we'll sit down and finish it. It shouldn't be that hard to do."There are a couple of ways to interpret that. One is that the deal isn't all that complicated and it will get done quickly.

3 weeks ago | nytimes.com | Matt Barrows

PALM BEACH, Fla. - Kyle Shanahan said Tuesday he's eager for a different kind of San Francisco 49ers offseason, one in which his squad is rested, practice attendance is high and there's plenty of competition. "Going into this season, going into OTAs, going into training camp, I do feel there will be as much competition on our team for starting spots as there has been in a while, especially on defense," Shanahan said during the NFC coaches breakfast at The Breakers hotel in Palm Beach.

3 weeks ago | nytimes.com | Matt Barrows

PALM BEACH, Fla. - All is fair in love and free agency. That was Denver Broncos' coach Sean Payton's take on the San Francisco 49ers' last-ditch effort to reel in linebacker Dre Greenlaw after he'd agreed to sign with Denver, a push that involved John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan flying to Texas to try to get Greenlaw to remain in San Francisco.