Kris Kocurek, Brandon Staley and 49ers assistants on Leonard Floyd, Ricky Pearsall and more (2024)

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — On Monday’s players day off from training camp, several of the San Francisco 49ers’ assistant coaches met with reporters.

There were a pair of half-hour sessions. The defensive assistants — including Brandon Staley, defensive line coach Kris Kocurek and defensive backs coach Daniel Bullocks — went first. Then came the offensive assistants, a group that featured quarterbacks coach Brian Griese, running backs coach Bobby Turner, tight ends coach Brian Fleury and wide receivers coach Leonard Hankerson.

Here are some highlights from the sessions:

Kris Kocurek impressed with Leonard Floyd’s resolve

On the first 11-on-11 snap of training camp last month, a teammate fell onto the back of Leonard Floyd’s leg, causing him to go down in a heap and limp off to the sideline.

Kocurek figured the 31-year-old pass rusher was finished for the day or perhaps would be out even longer.

Nope.

“Shoot, three plays later he was back in there,” Kocurek said. “And I’m asking the trainer, ‘We sure he’s good?’ … He just wants (to get) back in there as fast as he can. And that’s the type of person he is. He goes, he strains, he wants to be out there.”

Just go with the Flo 🔥 @Leonard90Flo

More 🎥 on https://t.co/vpdsX5qsi5 pic.twitter.com/6qMWBQTAs8

— San Francisco 49ers (@49ers) March 25, 2024

It’s not the only summertime nick Floyd has picked up. A few days later he seemed to injure his hand during a drill. And on Saturday sideline observers — as well as Kocurek — thought a foot issue suffered in one-on-one drills that again had Floyd hopping gingerly surely would knock him out of practice.

That didn’t happen, either. Floyd’s been the rare 30-something starter — linebacker De’Vondre Campbell is in this category, too — who’s taken part in every practice from May onward.

It starts to explain one of Floyd’s most remarkable feats: He’s appeared in every game since the start of the 2018 season.

“It’s just a joy to be around a player like that, that isn’t trying to take advantage of the veteran status and goes out there and puts in the work to be better,” Kocurek said. “He’s a very driven individual.” – Matt Barrows

Adaptable DBs on a Staley-coached defense

When Staley was the defensive coordinator of the Los Angeles Rams in 2020 and then the head coach of the Los Angeles Chargers in the three seasons following that, his defenses featured adaptability on the back end. Jalen Ramsey moved between outside and inside cornerback for the Rams. The Chargers used Derwin James Jr. in multiple capacities across the defensive backfield — not just in his original safety role.

Staley is now the 49ers’ assistant head coach. He’s working most closely with the team’s defensive backs. So far in training camp, cornerback Deommodore Lenoir has reprised his role from last season — playing outside in base formations and moving into the slot in nickel packages. That satisfies the 49ers’ need for a quick, quality nickelback in defensive coordinator Nick Sorensen’s system — and it’s also evocative of the “Star” position that Staley implemented for Ramsey in 2020.

If there’s another 49ers defender who might be used in a multifaceted way, it’s rookie safety Malik Mustapha. He played a roving position called the “Panther” in college at Wake Forest. So, might the 49ers begin experimenting with Mustapha, who’s thicker than most safeties at 5 foot 10 and 206 pounds, outside his native position?

Staley hinted that such a process wouldn’t begin in earnest until the regular season, but he didn’t rule it out.

“I think he’s proven to be trustworthy,” Staley said of Mustapha. “I think he’s really learned the scheme quickly, which I think gives you a chance to move to another role. You have to know the defense before you can start to move around. I think he’s done a really good job at safety showing he can command the back end of the defense. I think he’s shown that he can play in the deep part of the field, that he’s a good tackler, and now he just needs time on task.As you narrow your roster down, you can really see how you want to use these guys.” — David Lombardi

Rookie Renardo Green making a push

The 49ers drafted cornerback Renardo Green in the second round because he was such a “dog” at cornerback.

It turns out that he’s also a bookworm.

Defensive backs coach Daniel Bullocks noted it usually takes a young player two seasons to learn how to play nickel cornerback. Green has picked up the position quickly and has also been taking plenty of snaps at outside cornerback.

“I take my hat off to him,” Bullocks said. “He’s got a strong work ethic. He keeps his head in the playbook, he’s not making any mistakes out there. He’s always in position. He’s doing a great job.”

For most of training camp, the 49ers’ three cornerbacks in the nickel formation have been Charvarius Ward, Isaac Yiadom and Lenoir.

On Sunday, however, Bullocks rewarded Green by giving him a few repetitions at nickel alongside Ward and Lenoir. Veteran Rock Ya-Sin also took some snaps with the first-team group.

“We’re just going to continue to mix it up and see who’s the best three out there,” Bullocks said. —Barrows

Bobby Turner on the 49ers’ impressive RB depth

Turner, the 49ers’ 75-year-old running backs coach, was a subject of discussion this past weekend. Third-year running back Jordan Mason said he hadn’t exactly seen eye-to-eye with Turner earlier in his career, but that’s now in the past.

“The bottom line is he grew up and learned how to be a pro,” Turner said.

Mason’s surge this training camp has pulled him into split duty with Elijah Mitchell as the 49ers’ No. 2 running back behind Christian McCaffrey. Patrick Taylor Jr., rookies Isaac Guerendo and Cody Schrader and veteran Matt Breida — whom the 49ers just re-signed — round out what appears to be a deep room.

As the 49ers wait for Guerendo to return from a hamstring injury, Schrader has impressed Turner with his reliability and command of the playbook over the first 10 practices of training camp.

However, Schrader has yet to have a full-scale opportunity to showcase perhaps his greatest asset — his ability to break tackles, which was evident when he led the SEC with 1,627 rushing yards while playing at Missouri last season. The 49ers don’t tackle to the ground during camp, so Saturday’s preseason opener against the Tennessee Titans marks the first opportunity for Schrader to break tackles at the NFL level.

“That’s huge,” Turner said. “Even though we’re practicing fast, putting the pads on and breaking tackles for a running back, that’s a must. That’s going to be huge, not just for Cody but for all our running backs.” — Lombardi

Rookie Tanner Mordecai getting snaps

From a physical standpoint, undrafted rookie quarterback Tanner Mordecai looks like he belongs. He’s got good size — 6 foot 2, 210 pounds — a strong arm and, like Brock Purdy, is underrated as an athlete.

It’s the mental part of the game that — like any rookie — needs work.

“The biggest hurdle for him is just saying it, the verbiage,” quarterbacks coach Brian Griese said. “It might have 26 words in a play call. And they’re only 40 seconds on the clock.”

Still, there have been signs of progress. Coaches have given Mordecai a handful of 11-on-11 repetitions in recent practices, which hasn’t always been the case with the 49ers’ No. 4 quarterback in training camp and which underscores his progress. Mordecai will have a chance for mop-up duty in the preseason, beginning in Saturday’s opener at the Titans.

Griese noted the 49ers’ offense is entirely different than the systems Mordecai — who went from Oklahoma to SMU to Wisconsin — operated in college, few of which required him to call plays in the huddle or operate under center.

“To be able to do that to a point in a training camp where you can go out and execute — it takes a while,” Griese said. “So he’s getting a lot better.” —Barrows

Ricky Pearsall’s early progress

Rookie receiver Ricky Pearsall missed the first block of training camp practice with a hamstring injury. He’s since returned and impressed coach Kyle Shanahan with a handful of catches and good run-blocking effort.

Hankerson, the team’s receivers coach, has been working to develop Pearsall and integrate him into the 49ers’ system. That’s always a challenge for young players, especially given the complexity of the team’s playbook. Rookies, most of whom consistently dominated their competition at lower levels of play, must also acclimate to the more cutthroat world of the NFL.

“Pearsall, he gets very frustrated when he doesn’t win a rep,” Hankerson said. “I told him last night: It’s not about winning that rep. It’s about learning from it. Because us taking that rep is giving us experience to know how to attack it and defeat it. Don’t get frustrated.”

Perhaps the biggest question surrounding Pearsall has been his strength because he checks in at only 192 pounds (Brandon Aiyuk weighs 200 pounds, while Deebo Samuel Sr. is 215 pounds). But Hankerson believes early returns suggest Pearsall has enough muscle to hold his own at the NFL level, both in battles against press-man coverage and in run blocking.

“Even studying him coming out, he was always a physical, strong receiver,” Hankerson said. “Of course, it’s going to be a lot different at this level than college. But I have no worries that he isn’t strong enough. We have a great strength and conditioning staff that’s going to continue building him up and going in the right direction.” — Lombardi

(Top photo of Leonard Floyd: Michael Zagaris / San Francisco 49ers / Getty Images)