Minicamp Summary – Tuesday June 16

June 17, 2009 at 09:31am by Scott   •  No Comments »

Individual drills consisted mostly of ball security and recovery. In one drill, they tied a football to a bungee cord and made the runner keep a hold of it while running toward a cone. All offensive players except the linemen had to do this. They’ve done this drill several times before during OTAs. Most guys did all right, but you could tell the ones that fumbled because the ball would go flying in the opposite direction. This happened to Byron Leftwich.

During individual drills, Quincy Black worked with the defensive linemen. I have said before that Black has been taking some snaps at defensive end, and this seems to confirm that the coaches are serious about using him in that way. Man, I sure hope they know what they’re doing. First moving a safety to linebacker, then moving a linebacker to defensive end.

And I’m not kidding about this: In one session, the defensive linemen were working with linebackers coach Joe Barry on interception drills.

One thing you can say about Ryan Sims is that he’s a high motor guy. He ran every drill to the fullest and didn’t get tired out like you might expect from a big man.

In 7-on-7 drills, Leftwich missed several throws to open receivers. Torrie Cox abused him. Luke McCown and Josh Freeman both had good 7-on-7 practices. Kellen Winslow and Antonio Bryant (unsurprisingly) look like the most polished receivers.

I had heard (and Stephen Holder confirmed) that James Lee took starter snaps at left tackle even though Donald Penn was present. Penn has some catching up to do as Lee has been around for all the OTAs where they were practicing zone blocking. Lee is ahead of Penn as far as scheme goes.

After practice, Raheem Morris named Jeremy Zuttah the starting left guard in Arron Sears‘s absence.

“I look out there and I see that number so that’s our guy starting for us right now,” Morris said of Zuttah, who started six games, including one at left guard, in 2009. “That’s his role, that’s his job.”

He’s just not very good with words, is he?

Afternoon practice was canceled because of storms. Morris plans to move today’s practices earlier so they can fit them both in before the afternoon storms hit.

“We want to get it all in before 3 (p.m.) and come back in and meet when it’s raining,” Morris said.

Which means they’re practicing right now and I should be making a call. Excuse me.