Two tight ends were drafted by the 49ers this year.
The first one was Alabama's Cameron Latu in the third round, while the second one was Oklahoma's Brayden Willis in the seventh round. It was curious to see the 49ers double dip at the position considering it wasn't a pressing need.
Still, the logic is sound as it would be quite the upgrade to the offense if another tight end can prove to be impactful. However, that hasn't been the case in training camp so far. It isn't necessarily due to poor performances but considering the 49ers have entrenched experience players at tight end, it makes it tough for the rookies to showcase their abilities fully.
Kyle Shanahan went into further depth and gave his assessment on how the 49ers' rookie tight ends are faring in training camp.
"They're getting the reps but it's just all the stuff that takes a while to do," Shanahan explained. "You can show up in one-on-ones and things like that, but we're trying to get them to play in our offense and learn how. It's hard to go out there as a tight end in the pass game, if you can't contribute in the run game. And so, you’ve got to work at both just as much. And those guys don't get a lot of that in college football.”
If there is one thing Shanahan values in his offense, it is the ability and desire to block. The only way for Latu and Willis to work on that is when the pads come on, which barely started this week. Everything prior to that in practice was to get them feeling sound in the playbook. Now they have to really dig in for the physicality with showcasing and building their blocking skills.
There isn't going to be many reps going the way of Latu and Willis because they have to work on that. It also doesn't help that the tight end position is full of players the 49ers are already comfortable with. The opportunities are extremely limited for the rookie tight ends and it's because of so much that they have to soak in from the offense along with loaded depth.
“I think it's hard. We ask our tight ends probably to do more than any other position because how involved they're in the run game and the pass game. And those guys are getting thrown in it big. We just finished really our whole install and hopefully it slows down a little bit for both of them as we get going here.”
Latu and Willis have a whole month of practices and preseason games to show how far they've come. That will be their time to convince Shanahan if they can be useful in the regular season.
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