Brian Griese, Kris Kocurek and 49ers assistants on Brock Purdy, Malik Mustapha and more (2024)

The San Francisco 49ers’ players had a day off from OTAs on Wednesday, but the coaches were in the office.

Their agenda included a pair of half-hour sessions with reporters. First up were the defensive assistants, including Brandon Staley, who finally has a title — assistant head coach/defense — and who spoke with Bay Area reporters for the first time since he was hired in early March.

They were followed by the offensive coaches, including Mick Lombardi, who has the title of senior offensive assistant, and Klay Kubiak, who served as the assistant quarterbacks coach for the past two seasons and is the offensive passing game specialist this season. Kubiak said he’ll still work closely with the quarterbacks but will have responsibilities all along the offense in 2024.

Here are some highlights from the sessions:

Kocurek impressed with a second-year edge rusher

The 49ers’ first three defensive ends are Nick Bosa, Leonard Floyd and Yetur Gross-Matos. Who’s No. 4? It might come down to a training camp battle between youngsters Drake Jackson and Robert Beal Jr. Though Jackson is rehabilitating from last season’s knee surgery, Beal was among the first players to arrive in Santa Clara in the offseason and has been packing on weight — good weight — ever since.

Defensive line coach Kris Kocurek said Beal was 245 pounds when he arrived last year. He’s already 12 to 15 pounds heavier.

“He’s been in the weight room hammering it out with Dustin Perry and added really good muscle to his body,” Kocurek said. “And now it’s just a matter of getting as many reps as he can.”

The 49ers like Beal, who played outside linebacker at Georgia, for his explosion off the edge, and they’ve been cautious about compromising that quickness with added weight. Kocurek said he thinks the second-year player has found a “sweet spot” that will allow him to be more effective as a run defender while maintaining his impressive get-off speed.

Beal’s rookie season was disjointed. Just when he started to make a move in training camp, he suffered a serious hamstring injury that kept him off the field until mid-December. He got a smattering of snaps — including 15 in the Super Bowl — from that point on but ought to benefit from a steady spring as much as anyone.

“He’s a guy who, if he continues to work the way he’s been working, he has a bright future in store for him,” Kocurek said.

Growing leadership from the 49ers’ marquee QB

Brian Griese, who’s entering his third season as the 49ers’ quarterbacks coach, has never seemed particularly keen about discussing the technical details of his work with the QBs.

On Wednesday, even when pressed about the marked improvements Brock Purdy made from 2022 to 2023 — especially in terms of his off-schedule playmaking ability when rolling to the left — Griese didn’t delve into many details.

On the other hand, Griese spent considerable time talking about Purdy’s growing stature as a leader inside the 49ers’ building. This seems to be a point of emphasis for the 49ers as Purdy inches closer to what the team expects to be a massive payday in 2025. Purdy has developed a more talkative presence during his meetings with the media, and Griese said the 24-year-old quarterback has also developed into a more vocal leader in the QB room.

“It’s a confidence thing,” Griese said. “When you first come here, it’s a lot — like what Tanner Mordecai is going through right now, you’re swimming mentally. It’s hard to be assertive and demonstrative and be a leader when you’re thinking a whole lot about your job. I’ve definitely seen Brock grow in those areas.”

Mordecai joined the 49ers as an undrafted free agent out of Wisconsin. He’s the fourth-string quarterback right now, behind free-agent pickup Joshua Dobbs and Brandon Allen.

Griese said the way Dobbs handled challenging stints with the Arizona Cardinals and Minnesota Vikings last season impressedthe 49ers.

“He was put under duress physically and mentally — he was able to go out and play winning football,” Griese said. “That piques your interest.”

The holistic nature of the 49ers’ offensive coaching roles

The 49ers officially promoted Kubiak from assistant QB coach to offensive pass-game specialist. That was the position formerly held by his older brother, Klint Kubiak, who left to be the offensive coordinator of the New Orleans Saints.

“It’ll probably be a little more holistic,” Klay Kubiak said of his new job. “Passing game all around, dealing with all the skill position groups.”

Klay and Klint Kubiak worked together closely last season, so the 49ers don’t anticipate much disruption to their offensive process. They believe their staff is at least partially insulated against turnover thanks to its rather interchangeable setup. Similar to how players such as Christian McCaffrey and Deebo Samuel Sr. can play running back and receiver, all offensive coaches — even those with titles pertaining to one specific part of the game — must work to devise the passing and rushing attacks.

“It all ties together,” Kubiak said. “It starts with formations. It starts with our schemes and how we want to tie runs into play actions, protections and all of those things.”

Rookie safety draws impressive comparison

The 49ers are certain fourth-round pick Malik Mustapha will stand out when the pads finally go on in training camp. After all, the team rated him as one of the best tacklers among defensive backs in this year’s NFL Draft.

The spring practices, however, are all about learning. And Mustapha has jumped out in that area, too, according to defensive backs coach Daniel Bullocks.

“That’s the biggest thing for me — his work ethic and how fast he picks things up,” he said.

Mustapha’s shortish — he’s 5-10, 206 pounds — muscled-up frame has some practice observers likening him to former 49ers safety Donte Whitner, another sharp, short defensive back who knew how to throw his weight around.

Bullocks liked that comparison when a reporter mentioned it. And he threw out one of his own: Bob Sanders, a second-round pick of the Indianapolis Colts in 2004 who was the NFL’s defensive player of the year in 2007.

“When I look at it, I look at a guy like Bob Sanders, a guy who’s more of a stout stature, who’s shorter, who’s physical,” Bullocks said. “I know (Sanders) was an All-Pro and whatnot, but Malik has that same type of body type and that violence that Bob Sanders played with.”

49ers think rookie TE is a project worth taking on

Mason Pline has the frame of a basketball forward but the toughness of a tight end. Which is what prompted the 49ers to pursue the former basketball forward after the draft.

“There are other basketball players we’ve evaluated that I haven’t been as excited about,” tight ends coach Brian Fleury said Wednesday. “We’re always looking for signs of a certain level of toughness and physicality. And he definitely has that.”

Pline is very much a project. He didn’t switch to football until 2021 and played at a pair of smaller schools: Ferris State and Furman. Fleury said it will take time to get used to the speed of the NFL game after playing against lower-level competition.

Still, he has the body control and soft hands expected from someone accustomed to catching passes in the paint, and Fleury’s early impression is that the 6-6, 254-pound rookie is a project worth taking on.

The 49ers aren’t particularly deep at tight end in general and are certainly light there at the moment. George Kittle (core surgery) and Cameron Latu (knee) are rehabbing from injuries. That leaves Eric Saubert, Brayden Willis, Jake Tonges and Pline as the only tight ends taking part in OTAs.

“There’s nothing that I see physically that’s going to limit him from doing everything we ask him to do,” Fleury said of Pline. “He’s got the frame, he’s got big hands, good hands. From what I can tell, he’s got the movement skills to run all the routes. His maximum speed isn’t going to be what George’s is, but you don’t have to have that to necessarily function as a tight end in this league and in this offense.”

Full-circle familiarity for Staley

Staley previously coached two players whom the 49ers acquired as free agents in March: edge rusher Leonard Floyd and cornerback Isaac Yiadom.

“Leonard is one of the top players I’ve ever coached,” Staley said. “I’ve been able to see his growth and improvement as a player. I felt like last year he played as well as he’s ever played. And that’s saying a lot because he’s played at a high level. … I think he’s going to be a great fit for this team and our style of play.”

Staley was the outside linebackers coach for the Chicago Bears in 2017 and 2018, Floyd’s second and third seasons in the league. Staley reunited with Floyd in 2020 when he was the defensive coordinator of the Los Angeles Rams. Floyd registered 10 1/2 sacks for the Buffalo Bills last season, lining up in a three-point stance — the preferred setup in the 49ers’ 4-3 scheme — about 50 percent of the time, the highest rate of his career. Staley said the 49ers are committed to remaining rooted in four-man fronts, which would mean more three-point stances for Floyd.

Staley also lauded Yiadom, with whom he overlapped with the Denver Broncos in 2018 and 2019.

“I’m really proud of his journey,” Staley said. “The player I coached in 2019 is not the player he is now. He has improved so much. He has made it his mission to be an outstanding pro corner.”

(Top photo of Brock Purdy and Brian Griese: Michael Zagaris / San Francisco 49ers / Getty Images)