Seahawks defensive end Bruce Irvin, a player the 49ers had their eye on in the 2012 draft, has been suspended for the first four games of the season for violating the NFL's rules on performance enhancing substances. He's not getting support from 49ers fans or from one 49er.

"I have no sympathy for violators of NFL drug test," safety Craig Dahl tweeted after news broke of Irvin's suspension. "It's easy to know what goes in your body. If this was another sport what would happen?"

The 49ers and Seahawks, of course, have developed one of the best - if the not the best - rivalries in the NFL, and they will meet in Seattle in Week 2. Irvin, the Seahawks' first-round pick last year, stands to miss that Sunday night game. Dahl is in his first year with the 49ers but played on another NFC West squad, the Rams, for the last four seasons.

The Tacoma News-Tribune notes that Irvin is the sixth Seahawk to be busted for performance-enhancing substances since 2011. Cornerback Richard Sherman had a high-profile case last season that ultimately was reversed by the league. Of course, the 49ers aren't exactly angels on the topic. Linebacker Larry Grant, who spent the last two seasons in San Francisco and who is now a free agent, also has been suspended four games for a PED violation.

Irvin apologized and announced he would not appeal the punishment. 

"I want to apologize to my teammates, coaches and Seahawks fans for making a mistake when I took a substance that is prohibited in the NFL without a medical exemption," he said in a statement released by the team. "I am extremely disappointed in the poor judgment I showed and take full responsibility for my actions. I will not appeal the discipline and instead will focus my energy on preparing for the season so I can begin earning your trust and respect again. I look forward to contributing to the team the moment I return."

Irvin was a situational pass rusher last season and finished with eight sacks. He was one of several Seahawks in line to fill in for last year's starter, Chris Clemons, who suffered an ACL tear in the playoffs. Other candidates are free-agent pickups Cliff Avril and Michael Bennett.

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Another statement: Matt Barrows is going on week-long vacation/workation beginning Saturday. The 49ers will hold an OTA session next week (and the week after that and the week after that), and of course, the league will award Super Bowls L and LI on Tuesday. The Bay Area is the frontrunner for Super Bowl L.

Keep an eye out for a story of receiver Ricardo Lockette, who promises to be one of the more intriguing story lines this offseason. It is scheduled to run Sunday in The Bee.

-- Matt Barrows

The 49ers are talking with former Jets and Browns head coach Eric Mangini about a consulting position, according to CBS' Jason LaCanfora.

Mangini has been out of football since being sacked by the Browns at the end of the 2010 season, and he's been working as an analyst for ESPN since. Mangini was a defensive coordinator in New England before the Jets hired him as head coach in 2006, and most of his coaching experience is on the defensive side. If he were hired by the 49ers, however, his role would be to consult with the offensive staff on dealing with certain defenses, LaCanfora writes.

That makes sense. Former Nevada coach Chris Ault invented the Pistol formation that has become all the rage in the NFL. But NFL teams were interested in hiring Ault not so much to aid their offenses but to better prepare their defenses for facing the Colin Kaepernicks and Robert Griffin III's of the league. The Chiefs recently hired Ault as a full-time consultant. (The 49ers were not one of the teams pursuing Ault).

Back to Mangini. He's only 42 and ostensibly is looking at a consulting job as a way of returning to the NFL. Is he looking at a future opening on the 49ers' staff?

The more immediate opening would seem to be in the secondary. Defensive backs coach Ed Donatell has been considered for several defensive coordinator openings the last two years, including with the Buccaneers last year and the Saints earlier this year, but requests to interview Donatell were blocked by the 49ers because he is still under contract. Donatell has a background as a coordinator (in Green Bay and Atlanta), is well-respected around the league and is likely to receive more interest in the upcoming offseason. Mangini, meanwhile, was New England's defensive backs coach from 2000-2004 before becoming defensive coordinator the following year.

As far as relationships with the 49ers, Mangini was an assistant coach with the Jets from 1997-99, roughly the same time San Francisco general manager Trent Baalke was a scout for the Jets. Mangini also worked with 49ers assistant head coach/special teams coach Brad Seely in Cleveland in 2009-10.

-- Matt Barrows

Colin Kaepernick spent the divisional playoff game running through the Green Bay Packers defense and the offseason running through the Packers' minds. Green Bay's offseason, it seems, has been dedicated to making sure its defense never gets gouged like it did Jan. 12 when Kaepernick ran for 181 yards - an NFL record for a quarterback - and scored two touchdowns in a 45-31 win at Candlestick Park.

The team's coaches headed to Texas A&M in the offseason for a tutorial on how to stop the read-option attack. And they used their first-round draft pick on defensive end Datone Jones, who faced plenty of read-option defenses while at UCLA. The Green Bay Press-Gazette recently wrote about how Jones is well-suited to stopping quarterbacks like Kaepernick and Washington's Robert Griffin III.

"I thought he was pretty good," Jones said of Kaepernick's playoff game against Green Bay. "But I don't think they're going to be able to run him like that. He takes one good hit, there goes their season."

Here's the rub: Kaepernick may hold the single-game rushing record for a quarterback. But unlike Griffin's Redskins, the read-option was only a part - sometimes a small part - of the 49ers offense. He averaged six carries per game in his seven regular-season starts. In arguably his best game of the regular season against Chicago, he ran the ball four times for 10 yards. Yes, that number jumped to 16 carries against the Packers in the divisional playoffs. But a week later against the Falcons, he had two carries for 21 yards.

As Pete Dougherty also notes in his story, a lot of the damage Kaepernick did against the Packers came not on designed runs but on broken-down pass plays. In the first half of the game, he scrambled five times for 75 yards, including a touchdown.

It also should be noted that Kaepernick hasn't remained idle this offseason while opponents are figuring out ways to stop him. He's gotten a bit bigger in the weight room, and he's also trained to increase his speed. That is, he's trying to stay one step ahead of the Jones, the Packers and everyone else trying to catch him.

-- Matt Barrows

B.J Daniels never played any position but quarterback at South Florida. Quarterbacks, however, are nothing if not studious and prepared. And Daniels figured it was a good idea to diversify his portfolio in the run-up to the draft.

The 49ers' seventh-round draft pick rounded up the school's punter and worked on his punt-return skills throughout the spring in Tampa. That preparation came in handy at the end of Friday's initial 49ers practice when Daniels - he and Nate Montana are the only two rookies playing quarterback this weekend - was told to join a group of wide receivers and defensive backs taking turns at punt and kick returns.

Daniels didn't look at out place. "I'm comfortable with my hands and, like I said, anything I can do to help out is what I'm going to do," said Daniels, adding that he prepared himself for punt returns this spring, "just to keep my options open."

That versatility probably is Daniels' ticket to making the 49ers' roster this summer. The team needs players who can handle punt and kick returns after Ted Ginn signed with the Panthers in free agency. Kyle Williams and Kendall Hunter likely are the frontrunners for both duties, but both players are coming off of season-ending injuries suffered Nov. 25. The 49ers need options.

On the other side of the field, another former college quarterback, MarQueis Gray, was learning a new position - tight end. Gray, who stands 6-4 and weighs 245 pounds, said he figured that would be his NFL position before the Texas vs. Nation all-star game in February. The organizers sent him an email prior to the game. The good news: He had been invited. The challenging news: NFL scouts wanted him to play tight end, something he had never done before.

Gray said the transition mostly was smooth in Texas. After all, he was only asked to hit blocking dummies and to play against other college athletes who hadn't been invited to the more marquee all-star events.

Friday's 49ers practice, he said, was rougher. He's having to hit moving targets all the while learning the verbiage of a new system and a new position. Still, he's up for the challenge. "I'm the type of player that likes to be on the field," he said. "I don't like to sit on the sideline."

Daniels, meanwhile, said his biggest obstacle so far was learning the playbook, which he called, "a good read." "Right now I'm just trying to make sure I know how to tie my shows and walk correctly," he said.

-- Matt Barrows

Step one for the 49ers' rookie class: A battery of tests and examinations up the road at Stanford Hospital.

For two members of the class, second-round pick Tank Carradine and fourth rounder Marcus Lattimore, the results were promising, Jim Harbaugh said Friday.

"Everything looks good structurally with all the guys that we drafted," he said. "The ACL looks really good for Marcus. We're just going to have to take a step back in terms of the cutting because we want that inside of the knee, the lateral side of the knee, to heal fully. But we're good."

Lattimore, of course, tore three knee ligaments, including the ACL, last year, and his heroic rehabilitation was one of the biggest story lines in the months before the draft. After the draft, however, Harbaugh said he wanted Lattimore, a running back, to slow down that rehabilitation, and he hinted that Lattimore might not play in 2013.

Lattimore today said he'd accept that scenario if that's what occurs. "I think that would be fine," he said. "Whatever happens, you know, these next three months will probably determine that. I'm just going to continue to keep working hard, and if I'm called upon, I feel like hopefully I'll be ready."

Harbaugh cautioned that no decisions have been made on Lattimore or Carradine, a defensive lineman who tore his ACL in November. He said the team's training staff, led by head trainer Jeff Ferguson, was excited by the challenge presented by the team's 2013 draft class.

"It's the Super Bowl for them," he said. "They're fired up about that."

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Undrafted free agent Luke Marquardt, an offensive tackle, is on crutches and in a walking boot. He is recovering from a broken foot.

-- Matt Barrows