{"id":242497,"date":"2026-03-29T20:48:12","date_gmt":"2026-03-29T20:48:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/242497\/"},"modified":"2026-03-29T20:48:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-29T20:48:12","slug":"49ers-news-should-the-49ers-reunite-with-another-defensive-veteran","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/242497\/","title":{"rendered":"49ers News: Should the 49ers reunite with another defensive veteran?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Whitner doesn\u2019t appear to think Ward can bring as much to the field at this point in his career. But he does believe Ward could be valuable, as a mentor to some of the young 49ers defensive backs.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">\u201cWell, the only thing I see wrong with it, he\u2019s 34 years old,\u201d Whitner said. \u201cAlways been like that coach on the field. He understands the game of football. He can be a great mentor to Upton Stout, who plays the nickel position, who\u2019s about his size, to Malik Mustapha, to Ji\u2019Ayir Brown. So if you\u2019re going to have Jimmie Ward around, I say you keep him on practice squad. I say you let that professionalism rub off on those young guys in there.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">The 49ers are known for having a close-knit locker room and Kuechly believes that Evans has the right mentality to be welcomed quickly. The receiver will also help provide leadership in a young and inexperienced receiver room.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">\u201cI just like Mike too, he\u2019s a great guy and you guys got a good one,\u201d Kuechly said. \u201cI think he\u2019s going to come in and fit in right away and I think he just wants to win. At the end of the day, he wants to win.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ninersnation.com\/san-francisco-49ers-draft\/157615\/49ers-take-caleb-lomu-again-in-another-nfl-com-mock-draft\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">49ers take Caleb Lomu. Again. In another NFL.com mock draft <\/a><br \/>\u201cLook, I don\u2019t hate Lomu as a prospect. I\u2019ve said it before, and I\u2019ll say it again: the pass protection is real, and that matters. But here\u2019s the wrinkle \u2014 this is Kyle Shanahan\u2019s offense. The run game isn\u2019t a nice-to-have; it\u2019s the whole foundation. Outside zone, wide zone, the stuff that makes the offense hum \u2014 it all runs through the offensive line. And if Lomu\u2019s run blocking is still a work in progress, you\u2019re essentially drafting a first-round tackle who isn\u2019t ready to do one of the most important jobs a tackle has in this specific system. That\u2019s not nothing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">And look, we\u2019ve been over the scouting report before, but it\u2019s worth repeating in this context: NFL.com\u2019s own profile notes he\u2019s still learning to find lateral landmarks in the run game and can lose his positioning fitting run blocks. In a Kyle Shanahan outside zone system where that precision isn\u2019t a nice-to-have \u2014 it\u2019s the whole point \u2014 \u201cstill learning\u201d is doing a lot of heavy lifting for a first-round pick.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Maybe it gets developed. Maybe Shanahan works his magic. But \u201chigh upside to develop\u201d is a phrase that sounds better in April than it does in October when the run game is sputtering.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Whitner doesn\u2019t appear to think Ward can bring as much to the field at this point in his&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":242498,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[70481,101,8376,103,102,104,106,105],"class_list":{"0":"post-242497","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-francisco","8":"tag-49ers-links","9":"tag-san-francisco","10":"tag-san-francisco-49ers-news","11":"tag-san-francisco-headlines","12":"tag-san-francisco-news","13":"tag-sf","14":"tag-sf-headlines","15":"tag-sf-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242497","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=242497"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242497\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/242498"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=242497"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=242497"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=242497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}