Alex Boone News

The 49ers are midway through their second week of OTAs, and this week features several absences.

Another day, another abbreviated Nuggets. That's what we say here Down Under. No, seriously... it's getting a bit ridiculous.

When it comes to the 49ers offensive line and the season opener, the most important names will be: B.J. Raji, C.J. Wilson, Ryan Pickett, Jerel Worthy, Clay Matthews, A.J. Hawk and Desmond Bishop.

We've gotten practice videos, but limited comments from Coach Harbaugh and many of the players.

Last week Niner Noise was invited to attend an event part of the National Salvation Army Week in San Francisco.

Since 2007, Andy Lee leads the NFL in gross average , ranks second in net average and ranks third in punts downed inside the 20-yard line .

Interested in Randy Moss, Alex Smith or Michael Crabtree? Don't worry. Forests worth of paper will be devoted to those A-list athletes this offseason.

San Francisco is now one of the league's powerhouses, coming in at No. 5 according the ESPN's 2012 Power Rankings .

Over at SBNation.com, Ryan Van Bibber put together a fun look at some of the generic storylines we will see over the course of the next few months in the NFL.

Despite the picture-perfect scene, the 49ers still have a few problems to address.

This week the San Francisco 49ers signed six of their seven draft picks to four-year contracts.A The newly signed players are RB LaMichael James , G Joe Looney , LB Darius Fleming , S Trenton Robinson , OL Jason Slowey , and LB Cameron Johnson .A First-round draft pick WR A.J. Jenkins is still unsigned, though he is expected to ink a deal soon with ... (more)

Jim Harbaugh is waiting for one of the rookies to set up and flash his talent. "Who is that new start up guy who's going to be more motivated, more talented, going to be hungrier," Harbaugh said.

Most of the veterans showed up. Frank Gore didn't, and neither did Mario Manningham or Brandon Jacobs, but that's OK because VFS is voluntary.

Alex Boone admits he was skeptical at first. On the first day of the 49ers offseason program, offensive line coach Mike Solari pulled him aside and told him there'd been a change of plans: Boone, an offensive tackle who had never played a snap at guard in his life, would be thrown into the mix at right guard.

This is only an offseason workout, and I don't know if Joe Looney or Daniel Kilgore are in town right now.

The 49ers right guard battle is shaping up to be one of the most interesting of the preseason.

Jeremy Newberry thinks rookie guard Joe Looney will have a head start when it comes to picking up the line calls and protection schemes of an NFL offense.