John Lynch names two 49ers rookie standouts, comparing one to a Hall of Famer

General manager John Lynch joined Bay Area radio station KNBR on Thursday morning—before practice—and was asked which rookies have stood out in training camp. Stout was among the two mentioned, and Lynch offered a notable comparison to one of his former teammates.

"You always have to be careful making comparisons to Hall of Fame players, but I played with a nickel at Tampa—Ronde Barber, and they wear the same number, so it's really easy to [make the comparison]," Lynch said. "But the feistiness, the competitor that Upton is, that kind of drives his entire game. Now, you have to have a skill set, and Upton certainly has that. But just the feistiness, the competitor."

Lynch went on to describe a specific play that stood out to him.

"Upton came the other day, and there was a toss play," Lynch recalled. "Upton's not the biggest dude in the world, and he had to set an edge, which was basically say, 'Okay, this play stopping here. It's going to turn back against [OL] Spencer Burford.' And he didn't shy away one iota, and he set the edge. And that's what Upton's all about.

"He can cover really well, and he's relentless with his effort. Like, very reminiscent of a [LB] Fred Warner-type effort. And so, that shows up. That plays in our league all day long. He's been really, really good."

Lynch added that the entire rookie class has impressed, which is good news because the 49ers will be depending on their young newcomers to produce early, replacing some of the veteran talent that departed this offseason.

Another rookie Lynch highlighted was perhaps the most obvious candidate—the team's first-round draft pick, defensive lineman Mykel Williams.

"Mykel Williams, you expect it because he's a really good football player," Lynch said. "We didn't feel like there's a lot of margin for error on that one. It's just how high the ceiling can be. But Mykel's just been excellent. He's been versatile. He can play outside on base downs, move inside on the sub or nickel packages, the third down, second and long stuff.

"And it's just like, how much better can you get? But he's already really good. He's been consistently good."

Unfortunately, Williams suffered a setback during Thursday's red-zone drills. He appeared to favor his knee after going down on a play. Medical staff quickly attended to him, and the rookie was able to walk off under his own power, though gingerly.

Head coach Kyle Shanahan later offered a promising update. The initial examination looked good, and the 49ers are hopeful the defensive lineman avoided a long-term injury.

"Hopefully, just hyperextended his knee," Shanahan told reporters. "So, we're gonna get a further evaluation now, but looked good when we examined him."