49ers training camp report: Nick Bosa looks as good as new, Mike Evans goes deep

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — He looks better than he did before he got hurt.

That was Trent Williams’ assessment of longtime teammate/practice opponent Nick Bosa, who practiced Sunday for the first time since tearing his right ACL on Sept. 21.

“I can’t really tell he had an injury and came back from anything,” Williams said. “Most people with a knee injury that catastrophic, when they come back, you can see something, right? You can see it in the atrophy, you can see it in the muscle of the leg. You see something. And Bosa looks better than he did last year.”

Bosa was symbolic of the San Francisco 49ers’ first practice of training camp in that he was among several high-profile players back on the field after missing the spring session because of injury.

Fellow defensive end Keion White, linebackers Fred Warner, Dre Greenlaw, Tatum Bethune and Luke Gifford, quarterback Mac Jones and center/guard Brett Toth also practiced after sitting out OTA practices in the spring.

Nick Bosa is cleared for practice after his Week 3 ACL tear last year. He’ll likely get ramped up in practice over the next two weeks or so pic.twitter.com/cckcYa3PVb

— Matt Barrows (@mattbarrows) July 26, 2026

Williams’ observation is noteworthy considering the year Bosa had after tearing his left ACL in Week 2 of the 2020 season. The defensive end returned the next year trimmer and quicker, finishing the regular season with 15 1/2 sacks and a career-best 21 tackles for loss.

“I’m not surprised,” Warner said of Bosa’s comeback. “Nick is one of the hardest workers, a guy who’s so in tune with his body. And having gone through that injury before, he obviously knows the steps.”

Odds and ends

• Three-quarters of the team’s presumptive starting defensive line isn’t practicing in full to begin training camp. Though Bosa took part in individual drills, he was held out of team situations while he ramps back up to full speed. Meanwhile, second-year players Mykel Williams (knee) and Alfred Collins (shoulder) began camp on the active/physically unable to perform list.

That left defensive tackle Osa Odighizuwa as the only likely Week 1 starter along the line. He paired with C.J. West on the interior of the first-team defensive line, and White and third-round draft pick Romello Height logged most of the first-team repetitions at defensive end. Fourth-round pick Gracen Halton also took some first-team repetitions at defensive tackle.

The team also signed longtime 49er Kevin Givens to a one-year deal Sunday and waived fellow defensive tackle Evan Anderson.

• Among the standouts in Sunday’s practice was newcomer receiver Mike Evans, who also looked impressive in the spring. Evans had two chunk-play receptions on throws from Brock Purdy, including one down the left sideline in which the pass landed between cornerback Deommodore Lenoir and safety Marques Sigle.

Another new receiver, veteran Christian Kirk, walked off the field midway through practice with an undisclosed injury. His absence created more opportunities for top draft pick De’Zhaun Stribling, who caught two passes, including a deep ball at the sideline from Mac Jones.

• Jones, who sat out most of OTAs with shoulder soreness, looked like he’s still getting up to speed. A throw across the middle to Jacob Cowing was tipped twice by defenders and eventually intercepted by linebacker Jalen Graham. Later, he wasn’t on the same page as his receiver, and his deep-ball pass was easily picked off by Sigle.

• There will be a competition at safety this summer. Though it appears Ji’Ayir Brown is the front-runner for one of the starting spots, Sigle and Malik Mustapha are rotating at the second spot. Sigle seemed to get more repetitions Sunday. Mustapha had an easy opportunity to intercept a deep-ball throw from Purdy to Ricky Pearsall but dropped the pass.

• One of the team’s free-agent additions, swing tackle Vederian Lowe, went down with what appeared to be a foot or ankle injury during team drills. Offensive line coach Chris Foerster, who is the acting head coach during Kyle Shanahan’s absence, didn’t have any injury updates, and none was supplied by the team. Rookie Enrique Cruz took over at left tackle on the ensuing snap, although Austen Pleasants and Brandon Parker handled the backup left tackle position later in the practice.

“We’ll see,” Foerster said of Lowe’s issue. “Hopefully, it’s not that bad.”

• Just like he did in the spring, Connor Colby lined up at left guard with the first-team offense with veteran Robert Jones backing him up. Those two seem to be the leaders in the competition, although Toth and rookie Carver Willis also are in the mix.

• Both of the running backs competing to be Christian McCaffrey’s main backup this season, Jordan James and Kaelon Black, looked sharp in practice. Because he’s a second-year player, James began training camp ahead of Black in the running backs pecking order.

• Williams said new defensive coordinator Raheem Morris is implementing more five-man defensive line fronts, which he said most of the league uses now. He and the rest of the offensive line are getting more summer repetitions than usual as far as handling five pass rushers.

“Or dropping one out and playing games with the quarterback, with the protection,” he said. “It’s one of those (defenses) you’ve got to be on top of.”