Niners Nation
49ers great Roger Craig named 2026 Hall of Fame finalist “The former NFL running back was named one of five finalists for the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2026, joining senior finalists Ken Anderson and L.C. Greenwood, coach finalist Bill Belichick, and contributor finalist Robert Kraft.
To earn induction, Craig must secure at least 80% approval from the Hall of Fame selection committee. Each voter may choose only three of the five finalists, and a maximum of three individuals from this group can be enshrined alongside the modern-era inductees in 2026.“
Barrows: 49ers mailbag: Looking ahead to Fred Warner’s possible return, free agency and the draft (paywall)
“I spoke with Cowing about three weeks ago, and he said he was close to full speed/full health at that point. The problem is there’s no room for him on the roster at the moment. The 49ers already are making rookie Jordan Watkins a healthy scratch on game days.
The risk of opening Cowing’s window coming out of the bye would be that they’d have to activate him within 21 days or put him on the shelf for good. It might be wiser to wait and see if there are any more injuries at wide receiver and open the window at that point.“
Kawakami: The tedious 49ers QB discourse, Stanford/Cal hires, and more bold thoughts (paywall)
“The most tedious part of the Purdy-must-go bellowing from the fan base and many others once or twice a year is not that it can be proved wrong so frequently and clearly, it’s that Purdy is never, ever getting benched while he’s in his prime. Not while Kyle Shanahan calls the shots and not if logic prevails in the 49ers’ offices and locker room. Which it does.
You are free to carp about Jones being better than Purdy, or whatever, but that ignores the fact that Shanahan and his staff know slightly more about quarterbacking — and what they want from their QB — than the average angry fan and blogger.
Maybe even more important: It ignores that Shanahan is tougher on his QBs than everybody else. It’s not like he’s ever resembled Jim Tomsula bumbling through the Colin Kaepernick/Blaine Gabbert mess in 2015 or Arizona’s indecision on Kyler Murray for years, or everything that has happened with the Cleveland QBs for decades.
Shanahan was always evaluating Jimmy Garoppolo — even during great seasons — pulled the plug on Trey Lance after trading first-round picks to acquire him, and early in this era, ejected from Brian Hoyer and C.J. Beathard just about exactly when he had to.
They’ve made some personnel mistakes over the years, but there is zero history of Shanahan and John Lynch staying with players — especially QBs — who aren’t performing well while somebody better sits and waits.
I am not trying to diminish what Jones accomplished in his eight games. There might not be a QB2 in this league that could’ve won five games in that situation. But also, Jones...
