{"id":6255,"date":"2026-08-03T23:06:21","date_gmt":"2026-08-03T23:06:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=6255"},"modified":"2026-08-03T23:06:21","modified_gmt":"2026-08-03T23:06:21","slug":"49ers-jiayir-brown-praises-raheem-morris-defense-pans-past-schemes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=6255","title":{"rendered":"49ers’ Ji’Ayir Brown praises Raheem Morris’ defense, pans past schemes"},"content":{"rendered":"
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SANTA CLARA \u2013 Ji\u2019Ayir Brown found himself in man-to-man coverage against a deep over route. In a flash, he raced to his right, chased a tight end across the end zone\u00a0and broke up Brock Purdy\u2019s potential touchdown pass.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI ran it down,\u201d Brown said, \u201cand made a play on the ball for the team.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a simple explanation for the 49ers\u2019 simplified defensive scheme under coordinator Raheem Morris. Brown, a fourth-year safety, served Monday as Morris\u2019 most vocal proponent among many this training camp.<\/p>\n

\u201cRaheem is dope, bro. Super dope. He wants football players. Previous schemes we\u2019ve been in hadn\u2019t wanted that,\u201d Brown said. \u201cRaheem wants you to play football. He wants instinctive players. He wants guys that can play ball and read the quarterback.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 49ers had no interceptions through seven games last season, just one through 10 games, then finished with a total of six, including two apiece from Brown and Deommodore Lenoir.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe scheme fits all of us,\u201d Brown added. \u201cIt\u2019s been great to see us transition into this explosive, D-back unit.\u201d<\/p>\n

He\u2019s not wrong, at least in terms of the secondary making more plays in camp. That goes for Lenoir and fellow cornerbacks Renardo Green, Upton Stout and Jack Jones, the latter of whom sat out Monday\u2019s two-hour session due to general soreness.<\/p>\n

At safety, Brown and Marques Sigle have handled most of the first-team reps, especially since Malik Mustapha strained a hamstring in last Monday\u2019s second practice of camp.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

Morris is the 49ers\u2019 fifth defensive coordinator in as many years, following DeMeco Ryans (2022), Steve Wilks (2023), Nick Sorensen (2024), and Robert Saleh (2025).<\/p>\n

Morris refers to Brown by his nickname, Tig, and said all the safeties have been impressive in terms of defending passes and communicating with All-Pro linebacker Fred Warner. \u201cI\u2019m very impressed with the guys being able to pick it up and how much they love football,\u201d Morris said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s my favorite camp, honestly, since I\u2019ve been here,\u201d Brown said. \u201cI love the scheme. I love the teammates I\u2019ve got. I\u2019m comfortable in Year 4. And I\u2019m having fun, bro. I can\u2019t remember the last time I had this much fun.<\/p>\n

\u201c(The scheme) fits more into my strong suits, reading the quarterback, being reactive, letting my instincts take over. That\u2019s what I love about this scheme more than the last schemes I\u2019ve been in; Wilks\u2019 was a lot similar (in 2023).\u201d<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

Brown, a 2023 third-round pick, is entering the final year of his rookie contract and not trying to focus on that. \u201cThis game is so detailed and one-play focused, your mind has to be on the now,\u201d Brown added.<\/p>\n

EVANS JOINS INJURY LIST<\/strong><\/p>\n

Wide receiver Mike Evans missed his first practice because of a quadriceps strain and is day-to-day. He emerged to watch the latter portion of practice and appeared in good spirits, as he was earlier Monday on KNBR 680-AM when he said: \u201cI\u2019ve been around some great teams. This stacks up there with one of the best teams I\u2019ve been a part of. Obviously we have to go prove it and we\u2019re putting in work to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

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With De\u2019Zhaun Stribling (hamstring) and Christian Kirk (calf) still out and Ricky Pearsall done for this season, the wide receiver corps was led by Deebo Samuel, Demarcus Robinson, Junior Bergen and Jordan Watkins, who made the final catch of the two-hour session.<\/p>\n

KAMARA ACL CONFIRMED<\/strong><\/p>\n

Defensive end Mikael Kamara, an undrafted rookie from Indiana, tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee and was carted off from Saturday\u2019s practice. Kamara, 24, played at James Madison for four years before transferring in 2024 to Indiana.<\/p>\n

Titus Leo, a fourth-year journeyman, made his practice debut Monday as the defensive line welcomed back Romello Height (elbow) and C.J. West (undisclosed) from minor issues.<\/p>\n

WARNER BATTLES ON<\/strong><\/p>\n

Warner avoided a serious injury an hour into practice and blocked out pain after apparently banging knees on a Kyle Juszczyk reception. Warner stayed in for the next play, then after a five-minute break on the sideline, returned to action, including on field-goal defense.<\/p>\n

CHAMPIONSHIP COACH SPEAKS<\/strong><\/p>\n

Coach Kyle Shanahan quickly addressed the team after practice before introducing\u00a0Mike Brown, coach of the NBA champion New York Knicks and father of 49ers defensive quality control coach Cameron Brown.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was so cool, just talking about the championship teams he\u2019s been on and how each one had a standard,\u201d fullback Kyle Juszczyk said of Brown, an assistant on the Warriors\u2019 2017, \u201918 and \u201922 championship teams.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026 That spoke really well to this organization because we\u2019ve always talked about having a standard here,\u201d Juszczyk added. \u201cWe have such a great one that when our head coach goes down, everyone understands what that standard is, what is expected from the guy next to them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shanahan has yet to miss a practice because of his concussion from a July 14 car crash, although he continues to watch from afar. He made his first team address Saturday, reminding them to protect the team and practice smart, a day after camp\u2019s first fight.<\/p>\n

RED ZONE DRILLS<\/strong><\/p>\n

Without Evans available to replicate Saturday\u2019s goal-line grab, the 49ers didn\u2019t look as dangerous in Monday\u2019s red zone drills, which did end with a touchdown pass from Mac Jones to Watkins. Brown and Ephesians Prysock broke up passes in the 10-play drill, and touchdown runs were scored by Christian McCaffrey and newcomer Khalil Herbert.<\/p>\n

KICKER UPDATE<\/strong><\/p>\n

Eddy Pi\u00f1eiro made all his field-goal attempts before missing wide right from beyond 50 yards. Rewarded in March with the biggest contract (four years, $17 million) of his career, Pi\u00f1eiro said: \u201cI feel there\u2019s always pressure. I thank God I got the contract I got, but none of that matters. If I keep making kicks, I\u2019ll be here, and if I don\u2019t make kicks, I won\u2019t be here. \u2026 It\u2019s just part of the process. I wish I would have known that faster in my career.\u201d<\/p>\n

EXTRA POINTS<\/strong><\/p>\n

Defensive linemen Nick Bosa (knee) and Alfred Collins (shoulder) remain out of team drills. \u2026 Former 49ers quarterback Alex Smith attended practice ahead of again serving as an ESPN studio analyst this season. \u2026 Juszczyk, in his 14th season, supported a revised camp schedule that has instituted \u201cjog-through\u201d days. \u201cThree days of full-speed football, in today\u2019s age, I don\u2019t know if that makes sense because you never do that in-season,\u201d Juszczyk said.<\/p>\n

Read more National Night Out: List of public parties in the Bay Area<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Safety Ji’Ayir Brown enters his contract year brimming with play-making confidence in Raheem Morris’ revised scheme.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6254,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6255","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"yoast_head":"\n49ers’ Ji’Ayir Brown praises Raheem Morris’ defense, pans past schemes - Next City Digest<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=6255\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"49ers’ Ji’Ayir Brown praises Raheem Morris’ defense, pans past schemes - Next City Digest\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Safety Ji'Ayir Brown enters his contract year brimming with play-making confidence in Raheem Morris' revised scheme.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=6255\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Next City Digest\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-08-03T23:06:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=6255#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=6255\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/13065d40d633843429ac57d4e5c06f9b\"},\"headline\":\"49ers’ Ji’Ayir Brown praises Raheem Morris’ defense, pans past schemes\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-03T23:06:21+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=6255\"},\"wordCount\":1125,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=6255#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/ba1625608f1ec696a129a475fb338b78-scaled.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"Sports\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=6255#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=6255\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=6255\",\"name\":\"49ers’ Ji’Ayir Brown praises Raheem Morris’ defense, pans past schemes - 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