49ers Insider Matt Maiocco Talks McCaffrey, Kittle, Purdy & More with Rich

San Francisco spent $9 million on new hydrotherapy units, added human performance staff and rebuilt the practice week, and Rich is still asking Matt Maiocco the same August question about a training room that keeps filling up.

Maiocco, of NBC Sports Bay Area, did not pretend otherwise. The 49ers now practice three days out of five, breaking up the old three-in-a-row grind with a walk-through and a day off. "You can't say that there's been any positive impact for all those changes," he told Rich. "It hasn't shown up with fewer injuries this summer."

Christian McCaffrey is the case everyone wants decoded, because the word attached to him is tightness and the timing is loud. His extension is kicking in just as Bijan Robinson and Jahmyr Gibbs reset the market above him, and the absence started after nearly two weeks of practicing rather than on day one of camp.

That sequence is exactly why Maiocco is not buying a hold-in. Everybody knew those deals were coming, he said, McCaffrey and his representation included, and a contract statement gets made on day one. Kyle Shanahan was asked point-blank and called the speculation wrong. Shanahan also said that if the 49ers had played a game last week, McCaffrey would have been out there. "If he does sign a new contract, today, tomorrow, down the road," Maiocco allowed, "then we'll have to wonder."

Mike Evans reads as caution. Evans left Tuesday's joint practice with the Chargers midway through with ice on his quad, was running before the game, and is not expected to practice much or play Thursday against the Raiders. Week one still looks like the plan.

George Kittle is the one Maiocco would bet against for the opener, and the tell was Kittle's own answer. Noncommittal about week one, Kittle was asked whether there was any reason to make the trip to Australia if he was not going to play. "That wouldn't make sense, would it, to go to Australia?" Kittle said, without hesitating. Sitting week one buys 10 extra days of rehab and erases 32 hours of flight time between San Francisco and Melbourne. Maiocco expects a push to play and the cautious answer to win.

The receiver room reshuffled again. Ricky Pearsall is out for the season, Deebo Samuel came back looking like Deebo prime after months without a team, and the 33rd overall pick keeps trending up despite letting a touchdown slip through his fingers against the Chargers. Christian Kirk, hurt on the first day of camp, is now chasing a roster spot.

Brock Purdy heads into his fifth season and fourth as a starter, no longer a young guy and not yet an old veteran. The supporting cast is better, with all three top receivers new to the building, and the expectation is another step. "I don't know if he gets the national recognition that maybe he deserves," Maiocco said, but inside that building Purdy is a central reason the 49ers believe they can unseat Seattle and hang with a Rams team most people have installed as the Super Bowl favorite.

Proof arrives immediately. The 49ers are preparing for a Rams front that features Myles Garrett and the return of Aaron Donald, and Maiocco says they have to believe it because the only alternative breaks in their favor. A pass rush that managed 20 sacks in 17 games last season, worst in the league, needs Nick Bosa healthy, O.C. Odighizuwa productive and Raheem Morris scheming confusion. On the other side, the answer is simpler and harder. Slow down the Rams by speeding up the offense.