The Bee's Matthew Barrows is at 49ers headquarters in Santa Clara. Look for his blogs daily at www.sacbee.com/ninersblog. Following is an excerpt from Tuesday:
The 49ers' quarterback competition? That's sooo mid-August. These days, it's all about split end, left guard and "Ted" linebacker, all of which are in limbo. Here's the inside scoop on each …
• Split end. Coach Mike Nolan insists it's still a dead heat between veteran Bryant Johnson and rookie Josh Morgan, who were arguably the team's two most productive wide receivers during the offseason. But pencil in Johnson to start Sunday against Arizona. Offensive coordinator Mike Martz said: "It's hard with Josh because he's a rookie. The tempo of a regular-season and preseason game is substantially different. (Especially) to play under that pressure all of a sudden if you're a rookie, that's assured. The timing's not really like it was in the preseason because you're panicky. There's that growth process for those guys that you've kind of got to fight through. So to say that Josh is the guy that's going to start excelling at stuff … He's in it, obviously, but we're really kind of depending on (Bryant Johnson) to step up now and be healthy and ready to go."
• Guard. This one is tougher to sniff out. The 49ers feel very confident about four out of five of their offensive-line spots. Left guard, however, has become a conundrum. Do you give the job to Adam Snyder, who has practiced there for most of the offseason but who struggled early in training camp? Or do you give it to David Baas, who played well at right guard in the second half of the season but who hasn't practiced extensively on the left side since 2006? It might come down to who looks better in practice this week.
• "Ted" linebacker. No, Ahmad Brooks wasn't brought in to shore up the "Ted" spot, as many have speculated. Brooks is tall, fast and athletic, and his skill set fits best at "Mike" linebacker, or the strong-side outside spot where Manny Lawson plays. The "Ted" competition is still between Jeff Ulbrich and Takeo Spikes. Ulbrich has the edge for Week 1. But once Spikes digests the entire defense, look for him to start.
