The Aaron Donald speculation around the 49ers is still hanging out there, but Adam Schefter’s latest update makes the whole thing sound more like a test run than a real decision point.
Schefter said Donald told the team he wanted to go there, work out, and see how he felt once he was back in pads and back on a football field. The point, according to Schefter, was to check everything: how his body responded, how his mind responded, and what it felt like to be in that setting again.
“He told the team that he wanted to go there, work out, see how he felt, see how he reacted, see everything that went along with being back in pads, on the football field, and seeing how it made him feel,” Schefter said.
He added, ”Now, I don’t know what he told them about that after he went through those workouts at the facility, but I really think it was just a trial method to see how his whole body reacted, how his mind reacted to being back out there.”
Elsewhere on the 49ers front, Wesley Grimes is being framed as the kind of receiver who fits the team’s mold, even if the upside may be more about roster value than star power. The case for him is built on the traits San Francisco tends to like: a receiver who can work underneath and still threaten after the catch.
Grimes posted an average depth of target of 12.9 yards at North Carolina State and averaged just over five yards after the catch. He also had a 20-yard reception in six different games, with a lot of his production coming on in-breaking routes. He was efficient when targeted beyond 20 yards, too.
The piece also points to Grimes being only 22, which gives the 49ers room to develop him further. His after-the-catch aggression could be useful in blocking as well. He may not project as a WR1, but the argument is that the tools are there - the kind the 49ers have been missing at the position in recent seasons.
And in a separate note, Taylor shared a reflective message on Instagram about the game itself and what it meant to him.
“Football gave me everything,” Taylor wrote on Instagram. “All of my lifelong friendships.
All of the adversity and life lessons It taught me along the way. Nothing else in this world breaks you down and teaches you who you are like the game of football does.
The dog days and the relationships built within it are what’s going to be missed the most.”
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