Brian de la Puente, an undrafted rookie from Cal, will start at left guard tomorrow night in place of Adam Snyder, who sprained his ankle in yesterday's practice. Snyder will be re-evaluated next week and could miss the Aug. 29 preseason finale against San Diego. He is not expected to miss the regular-season opener Sept. 7.
Why does de la Puente start when the team has a second-round pick in Chilo Rachal playing guard? Rachal has been playing on the right side behind Tony Wragge while de la Puente has been playing behind Snyder. The Packers tried shuffling their guards on a short week of preparation on Saturday and it resulted in all sorts of problems with the interior pass protection. The 49ers don't want similar breakdowns this week. Another reason: De la Puente has looked solid so far in training camp.
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CB Tarell Brown (hip) did some work today in practice and will make the trip to Chicago. Whether he plays or not will be a game-time decision. Out of action are WRs Arnaz Battle, Bryant Johnson, Ashley Lelie, G David Baas, RB Michael Robinson and S Lewis Baker.
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Forgot to include this from yesterday: FB Moran Norris was getting some work with the first-team offense. It will be interesting to see how he's used tomorrow.
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Just landed in Chicago. Now to see about some deep-dish pizza ...
-- Matt Barrows








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