Golden Nuggets: Congrats and good luck to new 49ers TE coach, Cameron… — and more

Dueling 49ers mock drafts: Who drafted better? (Paywall)
“Barrows: Cashius Howell, edge, Texas A&M: Yeah, yeah, I know — he has short arms. Howell’s levers measured just 30 1/4  inches at the combine, meaning he’d have the stubbiest arms of any Round 1 edge defender this century if the 49ers took him here. His arms weren’t a problem in the competitive SEC, however. He overwhelmed opponents with quickness and relentlessness, finished with 11.5 sacks and was the conference’s defensive player of the year. Defensive coordinator Raheem Morris likes flexible speed rushers, which describes Howell to a tee. Also: I’d bet cash money his arms are longer at his pro day this month; the guy at the combine is notoriously stingy with the tape measure.”  

49ers to meet with Missouri LB after NFL Combine snub 
“Jacobs turned in some of his best advanced metrics in 2025. He posted a 74.5 overall defensive grade from Pro Football Focus, along with a 78.0 run-defense grade and a 78.7 tackling grade — all career highs. While his pass-rush grade dipped slightly from 77.7 in 2024 to 75.3 in 2025, Jacobs earned at least a 65.2 coverage grade in each of the past three seasons.” 

Report: 49ers, Trent Williams remain at impasse amid contract talks  
“”From my understanding, there’s been no progress since last week, when the 49ers talked about the optimism that they would get a new deal with Williams to remain with the 49ers heading into this upcoming season,” Garafolo said. “So there’s still work that needs to be done there in the next couple of days to make sure that Williams does not hit the market.”

49ers linked to free agent linebacker with 20.5 career sacks “Over the last two seasons, 18 players have logged 250+ tackles,” Okada wrote. “Only one of those 18 players has logged at least 8.0 sacks, 20 QB hits or 60 QB pressures in that span … and he hit all three. Falcons linebacker Kaden Elliss is, as Gregg Rosenthal put it, ‘one of the most underrated players of his generation … [and] one of the best pass-rushing linebackers in football….And of course, Elliss’ head coach the last two years was blitz-wizard Raheem Morris, who is now the defensive coordinator in San Francisco,” Okada noted.” 

49ers promote Cameron Clemmons to tight ends coach, replacing Brian Fleury (paywall)
“Before serving as an assistant to 49ers offensive line coach Chris Foerster over the past two seasons, Clemmons spent four years in Las Vegas. His first NFL coaching gig with the Raiders came in an offensive quality control role. He specifically worked with a tight ends group led by Darren Waller, who was named to his first and only Pro Bowl in 2020, before Clemmons was promoted to assistant offensive line coach. The Raiders offensive line averaged the fewest penalties (4.41) in the NFL during his final season in Vegas.”

While the news of Stefon Diggs’ upcoming release dominated headlines, the New England Patriots quietly made another personnel decision.

Cornerback Alex Austin will not be tendered as a restricted free agent and enter the open market next Wednesday. NFL insider Jordan Schultz was first to report the news.

Austin, 24, arrived in the NFL as a seventh-round selection by the Bills in the 2023 draft. After relatively brief stints in Buffalo and Houston, he joined the Patriots in November of his rookie campaign and has since appeared in 29 games with six starts. He registered 31 tackles as well as an interception.

In 2025, Austin appeared in 15 of 21 contests but was on the field for only 11.2% of defensive snaps and none from Week 5 on. He lost his fourth position on the cornerback depth chart to Charles Woods early in the season, missed time on injured reserve with a wrist injury, and was employed exclusively on special teams down the stretch.

Austin entered the offseason as one of five restricted free agents the Patriots had to take care of. In addition to him, quarterback Tommy DeVito, offensive tackle Yasir Durant, defensive tackle Jaquelin Roy and linebacker Jack Gibbens are also RFAs.

The Patriots have until 3:59 p.m. ET on Wednesday, Mar. 11, to either tender them or let them become unrestricted free agents.

We asked for your thoughts after Wednesday's Premier League game between Manchester City and Nottingham Forest.

Here are some of your comments:

City fans

Kevin: Same old same old. Switch off for the first 15 minutes of the second half, let the opponent back in the game then hope that substitutes on the hour will change things. No Marmoush when a goal is needed and none of the Nicos to shore up a woeful defence and midfield.

Dixon: As a City fan, totally disappointed at their performance, not least Foden who is the main culprit for Anderson's goal as he was the only City player closer to Anderson before the latter shot and scored. Foden didn't seem care if Anderson scored or not since he didn't attempt to tackle Anderson before the shot. City should sell him at the end of the season. I hope he won't be picked for the World Cup since he doesn't deserve a place in England team.

Martin: City looked disorganised & were too "narrow". They could not breakdown a packed Forest defence & lost the ball too easily.Forest started well but City dominated the majority of the game but reverted to sideways passing etc. same old,same old. Credit to Forest who matured during the game. Are City playing better away from home? Not good enough if they want to pressure Arsenal.

David: This current City team is a shadow of the ones of the last 10 years. Pep has run his course time for a change of manger and coaching staff for next season.

Rodrique: Disappointing end of a game which we should have seen out easily against a team who struggles to score goals. Title race not done yet because twists and turns could happen and they would. Let's pray for Arsenal to stumble and for City to win their remaining games.

Forest fans

Fosi: Great to see the fight back and the commitment, massive point! We need to cut out the mistakes and move the ball faster ! Expected to lose the game, well fought lads!

Luke: An excellent point and another performance that makes you wonder how we are where we are. Unfortunately this season, for every night like tonight there's been a night like Braga. We need to play this this for each of the remaining 9 games, and if we do we've got a chance.

Ken: The spirit shown in the second half must be carried into the remaining league games. If we do that, we should survive. Well played lads.

Sean: The team really had to put a shift in and they did. Fantastic effort and game plan from start to finish, there were even a couple of moments we could have snuck away with more. Really need to keep putting this kind of effort in now to stay up.

Ted: Manchester City didn't stumble, Forest were amazing. Awesome performance away from home. The fight was brilliant. We will stay up.

Liverpool manager Arne Slot claimed that Florian Wirtz “could be available for a few minutes” during the FA Cup tie against Wolves on Friday, while suggesting that the Germany international is key to the team’s overall “balance”.

Wirtz has been out of the squad since picking up an injury in the warm-up ahead of the win over Nottingham Forest on 22 February, and the 22-year-old has missed three games in that time, including the 2-1 loss to Wolves in the league earlier this week.

However, he could feature against Wolves in the FA Cup fifth-round tie this week, in what would be a welcome boost to Liverpool’s attacking options.

“He trained half and half with the team yesterday. He made the next step in rehab. Let's see where he is today. He could be available for a few minutes tomorrow in the best scenario,” explained Slot, before adding that “everyone else [is] fine”.

The absence of Wirtz has coincided with Liverpool struggling in attack at times, and while the Reds did beat West Ham 5-2 over that spell, there are still questions over the attacking output and chance creation, with Cody Gakpo and Mohamed Salah coming under criticism for not offering enough from the wings.

And while Slot highlighted that “attacking isn't just down to Cody [Gakpo] and Mo [Salah],” the Dutchman did seem to admit that Wirtz is a key cog in his side’s attack.

“One of the players who creates is Florian Wirtz. He got injured three games ago. Before that the team had a certain balance and we've had to adjust again. That's happened a lot this season,” explained the Liverpool boss.

“Not all the games have improved in terms of creating chances. But we're not the only team that finds it hard to create from open play. It's the qualify of the league that makes it more complicated.

“We are not in terms of chance creation last in the league. We're not doing that bad. We're also the team with most ball possession so you'd expect us to create more.

“Cody and Mo we expect and they expect from themselves to score more. But attacking isn't just down to Cody and Mo,” he added.

Liverpool will book a place in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup with a win at Molineux, in what is the first of an important string of games that includes a Champions League last-16 tie against Galatasaray and a Premier League match against Tottenham at Anfield on 15 March.