49ers

The NFL will celebrate its 50th Super Bowl in northern California, where its newest, most high-tech venue is being built.

San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Michael Crabtree has suffered a torn Achilles' tendon while participating in organized team activities Tuesday and will likely be lost for the upcoming season, the USA Today is reporting from the team's headquarters in Santa Clara.

Imagine Sean Payton holding up a Surface tablet instead of a cardboard playsheet on the sideline.

South Florida's pitch to host Super Bowl L was mailed in a three-inch-thick plastic binder to NFL owners two weeks ago. The Bay Area's bid arrived in a more modern package.

Ricardo Lockette is so intent on landing a spot on the 49ers' roster that he bought a white board and markers so he could chart and study plays on his own time.

The 49ers only have a handful of roster openings as they get ready for their first full-squad offseason practice sessions next week.

Jim Tomsula has searched for NFL prospects in Belarus. He's held clinics on American football in Zurich, Paris and Rome. He's helped run kicking camps in Cancun.

B.J. Daniels played only quarterback at South Florida. Good quarterbacks, however, make sure they're prepared, and Daniels figured it would be a good idea to diversify in the months before the draft.

Marcus Lattimore merely observed when the 49ers rookies took the practice field Friday. The running back's big achievement came a day earlier at Stanford Hospital.

The 49ers rookie most eager to join his teammates following the draft will be the last to officially join the full squad for offseason workouts.

The 49ers kick off a three-day rookie minicamp today, the first time the incoming class will practice in professional uniforms.

A perfect fit? That description was used - tongue in cheek - multiple times Wednesday after news broke that Levi Strauss & Co. had purchased the right to put its name on the 49ers' new 68,500-seat stadium.

The 49ers welcomed back a familiar face Monday, signing offensive lineman Adam Snyder to a two-year deal.

The marquee football programs at the big universities stumble over themselves to secure commitments from hotshot high school players across the country.

The 49ers and the Bay Area took another step Friday toward securing Super Bowl L when Florida lawmakers could not work out a deal to provide taxpayer support for a $350 million upgrade of Sun Life Stadium, home of the Miami Dolphins.

The new spokesman for Jaguar collects sneakers, has a pet tortoise and is covered in tattoos.

he 49ers and the Bay Area took another step toward securing Super Bowl L today when Florida lawmakers could not work out a deal to provide taxpayer support for a $350 million upgrade of Sun Life Stadium. The Bay Area and South Florida are competing to host what is expected to be the marquee Super Bowl in recent years - the 50th game played - and the renovations are seen as key to South Florida winning the bid.

Everyone take one step forward. That is essentially what occurred in the 49ers' personnel department after Tom Gamble left for the Philadelphia Eagles earlier this year.

They're pitching a sequel in St. Louis: The Greatest Show on Turf, the Next Generation.

Nate Montana hasn't gotten a contract offer from the 49ers, but he has received an invitation.

The advantage of having an already-loaded roster on draft day is a team can gamble.

The 49ers are rolling in reinforcements for a pass rush that sagged at the end of the 2012 season.

The 49ers on Thursday offered an example of how they'll conduct business in coming years.

The 49ers enter Thursday's NFL draft with perhaps the most talented roster in the league and more selections than any other team.

The Bee's Matthew Barrows offers his predictions for today's first round of the NFL draft.

Throwing a 4-pound discus is nothing like taking on a 315-pound guard and a 325-pound tackle while trying to corral a 210-pound tailback. Except that very powerful, very explosive men are the best at both.

The 49ers and Raiders both have had drafts they'd like to do over. Both also have gotten it right, though recently the Raiders have drafted about as poorly as can be imagined.

The Oakland Raiders have the third pick in Thursday's NFL draft.

The latest NFL Draft shakeup came on Sunday when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers finally completed a long-rumored trade with the New York Jets for cornerback Darrelle Revis.

The Kansas City Chiefs have been on the clock for nearly four months now, and the 2013 NFL Draft is just a couple of days away.

Colin Kaepernick is a wanted man. NFL coaches are going back to school to figure out ways to stop fleet-footed quarterbacks like him.

For the second time in 21/2 months, the 49ers have issued a statement about cornerback Chris Culliver and insensitive remarks.

The middle class is disappearing in the NFL.

After surrendering an NFL-record 181 rushing yards to quarterback Colin Kaepernick in January, the Green Bay Packers coaching staff turned to the college ranks this offseason for a tutorial on how to stop the read-option attack.

He's got his dad's last name, his dad's height and – for one day at least – the same color jersey his dad wore for the 49ers.

Trent Baalke held his annual pre-draft meeting with the media Wednesday, and as usual his most revealing comments were on every 49ers topic but the draft.

Jim Harbaugh's move to quarterback Colin Kaepernick from Alex Smith midway through 2012 added a big play dimension to the San Francisco offense and helped lift the 49ers to the NFC Championship before ultimately coming up a little short against the Baltimore Ravens in the Super Bowl.

The recent game of quarterback musical chairs featuring Oakland, Arizona and Buffalo has shaken up the first round of the 2013 NFL Draft a bit, and could signal how the league's personnel people view this year's class of signal-callers, particularly West Virginia's Geno Smith.

When Keenan Allen was a 12-year-old in Greensboro, N.C., he was a guard on the local YMCA basketball court and a running back on the football field.

At the scouting combine in February, general manager Trent Baalke hinted the 49ers were exploring contract extensions with some of their young players.

The NFL knows a juicy preseason game when it sees one.

Criticize Nnamdi Asomugha all you want. The newest 49er knows it's coming, be it for his age, his uneven play the past two seasons, whatever. He has an answer at the ready.

The 49ers feel Nnamdi Asomugha isn't washed up.

Matthew Barrows answered your questions.

The 49ers added depth to what had been a shallow quarterback corps Monday by dealing two late-round picks for Browns quarterback Colt McCoy and a sixth-round pick.

Former 49ers offensive tackle Kwame Harris said he wished he had had the strength to be the first gay player to come out during his playing career, but at the time he didn't see being gay and playing in the NFL as "compatible."

Wide receiver Michael Crabtree on Thursday described a divided locker room after Colin Kaepernick supplanted Alex Smith at quarterback, as well as the bizarre sight of seeing Smith, the longtime starter for the 49ers, suddenly relegated to backup duty at practice.

Another reason the 49ers have only gently dipped their big toe into the free-agency pool this offseason?

A quarterback who can gobble up yards on the ground as well as through the air?

Luke, a midtown Sacramento resident and longtime Giants fan, took exception via email last week when I proclaimed the 49ers as the most beloved pro sports team in Northern California.