Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images

SANTA CLARA – It was red zone time on Thursday. For the first time in training camp, the 49ers set up 11-on-11 drills in the the red zone, an area in which they ranked dead last (with a 41.18 red zone scoring percentage) in the 2018 season. With Jimmy Garoppolo back in the saddle, that projects to change, but the question is by how much? Today was a first glimpse at what that improvement could look like.

Garoppolo has efficient day, connects repeatedly in red zone

After a 5-for-14 day, Garoppolo went 10-for-14, along with 4 red zone TDs on Thursday. He was nearly picked off once on a route which Fred Warner jumped, but looked much cleaner in his decision-making on Thursday. He connected with Kendrick Bourne on a deep post route for his first pass of the day covered by Adrian Colbert (more on him and the 49ers’ safeties below). In his first set of 11-on-11s in non-red zone situations, he went 5-for-8, with the near pick by Warner representing his worst decision of the day.

He made a fantastic, tight throw over the middle completed to Deebo Samuel followed by a 15-to-20-yard play completed to Jordan Matthews. In his red zone set, he looked to be in rhythm with his receiving group, with the worst of his plays coming on a failed shovel pass to Raheem Mostert.

Outside of that, Garoppolo was 5-for-5 with 4 TDs in the red zone portion; one to Samuel over the middle, one to Matt Breida, the one non-TD to Mostert on a slant (stopped by Ahkello Witherspoon), one on a great route to Dante Pettis with K’Waun Williams in coverage (would have been clear sack for Arik Armstead) and one to Kittle on a quick slant with an unidentified flag on the play.

“I thought it was pretty good,” Garoppolo said for the offense’s display in the red zone. “Compared to where we were at in OTAs, I think we made some good strides, guys making play and getting in the end zone. It’s hard down there, but I think we had a pretty good day.”

What needs to change for the team to make a tangible improvement in the season? The “details”.

“I wouldn’t say there’s one specific key, but just toning the details, honing in on the details and making those important to us,” Garoppolo said. Everything’s so tight down there, coverage is tight, tight windows to throw, and you have to be on your P’s and Q’s.”

As for the other two quarterbacks, there was a massive gap in performance. It was not C.J. Beathard’s day. Hewas 3-for-11, though was robbed of a sure (and would-be only) touchdown on his final rep as a perfectly-placed pass was dropped by a wide-open Richie James Jr. in the end zone.

Out of the other seven incompletions (in order), the first was a poor pass to Shawn Poindexter (with good coverage by Greg Mabin); the next was an incomplete screen to Samuel; the third was an incompletion with great coverage on Marquise Goodwin by Jason Verrett (flagged, perhaps unfairly, for pass interference and met by the ire of defensive backs coach Joe Woods); the fourth an overthrown deep ball to Goodwin, who had beaten Mabin; the fifth a would-be sack by Jordan Thompson, which Beathard unknowingly stepped into before under-throwing a dump pass to Breida; the sixth an overthrown ball into the left corner of the end zone, with coverage by Mabin on Tyree Mayfield; and the seventh a near pick by David Mayo, who was covering George Kittle.

Nick Mullens, meanwhile, went 6-for-8 with a pair of TDs in red zone drills.

His touchdowns came on back-to-back plays to Ross Dwelley, running a well-executed deep end zone route with Antone Exum on coverage, and Trent Taylor, with Emmanuel Moseley in coverage. His pair of incompletions came on his final passes of each set, the first a pass break up by D.J. Reed intended for Dwelley, and the second an incompletion on the final play in which Dwelley failed to get open near the short, left-side pylon.

As a whole, it was a better day for the offense, except for Beathard.

Why the 49ers failed to take a swing on Tre Boston

At one point this offseason, the 49ers were viewed as favorites to sign safety Tre Boston. The fit made sense, considering the issues the 49ers had there last season.

But Boston had been reportedly looking for a deal in the realm of what Lamarcus Joyner (4 years, $42 million) and Adrian Amos (4 years, $37 million) received.

“I know I’m worth every dollar [safeties Lamarcus Joyner and Adrian Amos] are getting paid,” Boston said on Sirius XM Radio. The stats say it, you can’t say it’s not. But for me, it’s about being at peace with where I’m at. Even though the stats say I might be there, if they’re not paying me that, then I will wait until it comes a time where I need to sign and they feel comfortable that I’m worth that… I’ve led my past two teams in interceptions…who doesn’t want a guy like that? It’s all about trying to get them [teams] to stop playing games.”

Ultimately though, Boston signed a one-year, $3 million deal with the Carolina Panthers, who needed a free safety.

“I though they were missing a spot,” said Boston, who discussed his interceptions, pass breakups and his desire for “respect” in his opening press conference. “They thought they were missing one spot too. They needed a free safety.”

The 49ers currently have the fifth-most cap space in the NFL, at $26.45 million, according to Over The Cap. Obviously, the team’s priority will be negotiating an extension with DeForest Buckner (and potential other lower-priority players like Arik Armstead and Jimmie Ward), and they are wise in keeping flexibility, but the 49ers simply did have the money to sign Boston if they wanted to. They had more than $18 million more in cap space than the Panthers before Boston was signed.

So why is Boston in Carolina and not the Bay? The 49ers like who they have, even if who they have tend to not be on the field all that often.

The team’s current safety depth (they took four safeties last season and haven’t given an indication they’ll take more this season) looks tentatively like this:

Free safety: Jimmie Ward, Tarvarius Moore

Strong safety: Jaquiski Tartt, Adrian Colbert

The guys on the bubble right now would be Tyree Robinson, Marcell Harris and Antone Exum Jr. Harris has looked the best out of that group.

Looking at those four players in the very tentative depth chart, you have Ward, who is the clear best safety when healthy (which he’s often not, playing 16 games only once in his sophomore season, and missing five games his third year, six games his fourth year, and nine games last season); Tartt, who hasn’t looked particularly good or bad in camp so far, but has played just 17 out of 36 possible games in the last two seasons; Colbert, who has made some egregious mistakes in coverage, especially on deep balls, and has yet to prove he’s not a liability there (but has looked a talented ball-stopper when put in the box in nickel situations), and Moore, who, although impressive so far (and made a fantastic run stop in a red zone situation today) as he’s slotted back at his natural safety position, is still learning it at an NFL level. Defensive coordinator Robert Saleh said Tuesday Moore is improving, but but a damper on his current viability.

“He’s been progressively getting better,” Saleh said. “He’s by no means even close to being an NFL-ready safety by Week 1, but he is getting progressively better. He’s got a lot of things to clean up with regards to, he’s hesitating, which is expected. He’s still new at the position, but he’s got to get to the point where he’s not really thinking about his job anymore where he can react and trigger, which is so important for our safety to be able to do.”

In one sense, it’s understandable to look at that group and see two starting-caliber safeties, and a pair of young, promising backups, and not want to commit long-term money to a potential backup safety, or someone you don’t see as much of an upgrade over your current starters.

But Boston’s undoubtedly better than Colbert or Moore at this point. There’s an argument that he’s better than both of Ward and Tartt, too, and he’s at the very least been healthier than both (has played at least 14 games in each of the last four seasons). And he’s not locked in to just playing one safety spot, either.

While Boston has played free safety most of his career, he played strong safety for most of last season. He came up with at least two interceptions in each of the past three seasons (two in his third year, five in his fourth year, and three last season, including one against the 49ers), and his eight interceptions over the last two seasons rank third-most amongst all NFL safeties. He’s fairly well involved in pass breakups for a safety (seven, eight and nine, in each of the last three years, respectively) and has had exactly 79 combined tackles in each of the past two seasons.

So, why wasn’t Boston a fit? Here’s what head coach Kyle Shanahan said when asked about Boston and the team’s depth:

”Any time you have guys go out, like how we did Jimmie Ward, there’s always issues But we have guys on our team. We can’t just stockpile players. There’s 90, so when you bring one in, another one’s got to get cut. And if you want to pay another guy, then you have to think of another guy you’re not going to pay, so we would love to bring in safety after safety and load up every position and feel just so comfortable, but injuries are part of this game and you put your roster together and you have to deal with that stuff when it happens. If you do get injuries, you hope that guys are out there like [Boston]. Obviously, he got taken up, but there are still guys, but we like the guys in here and hopefully we can get Jimmie back here soon and get a little more depth there and some of these young guys can step up.”

Final notes: Toran gets his chance with the ones, Buckner sidelined

• Injuries: DeForest Buckner sat out today with a mild toe strain, with no update on his status as of yet; Dee Ford was limited again, not participating in team drills with what Shanahan said was “knee tendinitis,” which, according to Shanahan, Ford, “…says it happens about every camp and then usually goes away”; Josh Garnett had surgery following a dislocated finger which sidelined him for the last three practices, and will be out for about three weeks; Jeff Wilson Jr. will be out for one-to-two weeks; Jerick McKinnon will remain on the PUP list for this block of practices through Sunday, with Shanahan hoping he comes off the list in the next set of blocks; Jimmie Ward is still not involved in anything other than walkthroughs…
• Mike Person took a veteran day today, like Joe Staley had on the first day of padded practice, which meant…
• Najee Toran slotted into the starting right guard spot, and received solid reviews from Garoppolo and Shanahan
  • Shanahan: “I think Najee did a good job. The whole O-Line as a whole, they’ve been working well together. They plug and play everybody in all different positions with different groups. I think that’s good for us. O-Line, it’s a tough thing. You want the same five the whole time, but we all know throughout the season injuries happen.”
  • Garoppolo:
• Fred Warner, following a few running plays at the start of practice which the defense, unlike in days prior, failed to shut down (two 7-plus-yard runs from Tevin Coleman and one from Breida), and an offsides flag which was ignored because of a run by Kevin Walter that went for a touchdown, called out his defense loud and clear to, “Turn this shit up!” On the next play, a pitch to Coleman, he was stopped by a group of defenders for a short gain. It seemed to change the course of practice for the first set of non-red zone 11-on-11s. He jumped a route on a Garoppolo pass to Trent Taylor in the first five-wide offensive scheme that the offense has run with pads on, and shut down the ensuing play, a short pass to Coleman, for a very short gain, if any.