The San Francisco 49ers on Wednesday held their first training camp practice and offered a glimpse of what the early defensive depth chart looks like.
ESPN’s Nick Wagoner in a tweet ran through some of his observations from Wednesday’s session and noted who the first-team reps went to on that side of the ball.
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Here’s what that group looked like per Wagoner’s tweet, along with our own takeaways from the personnel choices:
DE: Mykel Williams, Sam Okuayinonu
Nick Bosa will hold down one of the starting jobs. He didn’t participate in team drills. Okuayinonu getting the initial first-team reps is a good sign for his chances of making the roster. He posted 3.0 sacks in 16 games last year and had enough flashes to be interesting as a fourth pass rusher. It looks early in camp like he’s in line for that spot.
DT: Kevin Givens, Jordan Elliott
It’s not a huge surprise the two veterans got the initial first-team reps. Draft picks Alfred Collins and CJ West should be worked into some first-team looks eventually. The 49ers will be in trouble if they go into the year with Givens and Elliott as their starters at DT.
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LB: Fred Warner, Dee Winters, Luke Gifford
Winters was first up in the Will LB battle. He’ll be fighting Kyle Shanahan’s confidence in 49ers rising star could set table for new Super Bowl windowfor that three-down job with rookie third-round pick Nick Martin. There’s no real surprise it was the third-year veteran Winters getting the early first-team reps. Gifford hasn’t played a ton defensively over his six-year career, but he did play a career-high 203 defensive snaps for the Titans last season. There will likely be other players in the mix for the Sam LB spot, but the veteran Gifford got the first shot to start in the base defense.
CB: Deommodore Lenoir, Renardo Green
This isn’t the notable CB thing. The notable CB thing is that Tre Brown, an offseason free agent signing, got the first nickel CB reps in the slot with Lenoir and Green playing outside. Rookie third-round pick Upton Stout also get some work in the nickel according to Wagoner. This battle is going to be a fun one, and the opening salvo saw the four-year vet with two-career INTs get the nod.
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S: Jason Pinnock, Ji’Ayir Brown
There’s an open safety spot because of Malik Mustapha’s knee injury. Pinnock appeared to be the frontrunner to start alongside Brown since he spent one season under 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh when Saleh was the New York Jets head coach. That was confirmed with his early first-team reps. It’ll be interesting to see if rookie Marquis Sigle gets a look. Free agent Richie Grant could also get a shot at some first-team snaps. Brown’s status as a starter may also be in flux if he struggles in camp. For now he’s still getting the first-team looks.
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This article originally appeared on Niners Wire: 49ers depth chart: Training camp battles come into focus on defense
