SANTA CLARA – Brock Purdy, George Kittle and Fred Warner acquired paid as 49ers’ cornerstones, and the trickle-down economics already are paying dividends for staff chemistry.
“This year, having guys done, getting back to work, to be around guys and just build our culture and standard really from the ground up with all the new guys that we have, it’s been pretty cool,” Purdy said Wednesday. “Everybody has bought in right now. We’re excited to do more team activities.”
The 49ers’ offseason program has three weeks to go, it’s gone past practices, conferences, movie evaluation and weight lifting. About 50 gamers went on the franchise’s golf junket to Carmel. Some guys hunted down clay pigeons at a capturing vary. Some headed to a privately rented movie show.
“It’s not like all 90 show. Anytime you get 10 to 15 guys to show up, you’re just building that team chemistry there,” Kittle mentioned at Wednesday evening’s Dwight Clark Legacy Sequence. “And it’s fun just being in the locker room getting to know guys.”
Group bonding is critical after final season’s 6-11 debacle and this offseason’s roster recalibration.
“The young guys, the older guys, everybody is bringing it right now. It’s just so important we’re around each other a lot doing little, different activities and continuing to build chemistry,” Purdy mentioned. “That’s the stuff that matters, when you get in late in the season and things get tough as a team. You want to be able to know the guy next to you and what he’s about and that he’s going to have your back.”
The 49ers, considerably uncharacteristically, already brokered contract extensions earlier than summer time break for his or her three most distinguished leaders: Purdy (5 years, $265 million), Kittle (4 years, $76.4 million) and Warner (three years, $63 million).
“Yearly there was somebody, yeah, you’d prefer to get them executed and it’s gone on fairly late,” Purdy mentioned. “Whether that’s affected the locker room or not, I’m not really sure and don’t want to just pinpoint something.”
However Purdy isn’t shying away from talking up the older he will get and the extra entrenched he’s develop into with the 49ers.
“One thing I’ve always seen from Brock this offseason is just his voice is heard significantly more in the building, which I love,” Kittle mentioned. “Whether it’s breaking down the team or talking in the locker room, he’s always kind and nice to everybody, but he’s just more vocal to everybody in a team setting, which is huge.”
Two months in the past, the 49ers fractured their roster in half, bidding farewell to eight starters and a few dozen reserves in free company. Purdy confirmed up on Day 1 of voluntary exercises final month to steer the expansion of a brand new roster.
“Man, Brock Purdy, what a story, seriously. I’ve been a fan of his since the beginning,” Warner mentioned on the Dwight Clark Legacy occasion at San Jose’s Hammer Theatre. “… I’m so proud of him. It’s just the beginning for him. Purdy, that’s the man. I love playing with him.”
Purdy, in his afternoon media session at Levi’s Stadium, talked a few “re-energized feeling around the facility.”
Kittle echoed that, including: “The vibes are elite and immaculate. Everybody is having a good time. There’s so much good energy in the building, because you don’t have that pressure yet of learning a game plan and trying to stay healthy for the game on Sunday.”
The 49ers misplaced seven of their closing eight final season en path to a 6-11, last-place document that may very well be attributed to myriad elements, together with on-field accidents, private trauma off the sector, a Tremendous Bowl-loss hangover, and, sure, contract talks that dragged on with broad receiver Brandon Aiyuk and left deal with Trent Williams.
Contract drama is gone earlier than OTAs formally start this yr.
“When you have that in the locker room and guys see that in the building, it makes you want to work harder so you’ll get one of those contracts, too. It’s good for the team chemistry,” Kittle said. “You keep guys who are part of the foundation of what makes the Niners the Niners. And it just makes guys strive for greatness.”
The brand new, supersized scoreboards are virtually in place at Levi’s Stadium amid this offseason’s renovation. It’s not all on Purdy to ship factors and highlights on what the 49ers are calling “the largest 4K display in the league.” He stiff-armed any gargantuan greed in contract talks to verify the 49ers nonetheless can afford a extremely compensated supporting solid.
He famous that having his contract is finished is a “huge blessing for the team and the organization. … How they use the (remaining) cap space, that’s not my job. My job is to now go and win games and lead this team.”
He’ll accomplish that alongside a slew of stars who not solely are among the many highest paid at their place however who skilled the non-public torment of a second-contract negotiation. Purdy acknowledged that Kittle, Warner and Nick Bosa (a 2023 mega-contract recipient) all suggested him to not cling his head on no matter was mentioned about him throughout contract talks.
“I didn’t want to lose who I was through the process,” Purdy mentioned. “You see stories around league and people can act uncharacteristically because they hear things.”Associated Articles
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Now hear this: Purdy and the 49ers are going to have a significantly better vibe than final yr, and his 2022-23 success fuels such confidence in a turnaround.
“I can hang my hat on the fact I’ve had success in this league and I’m capable of leading an organization all the way to the end, to the Super Bowl. I’ve proved that,” Purdy mentioned. “I know who I am want to get what I deserve but I want to surround guys around me and not just try to take every penny for myself.”
