SANTA CLARA – C.J. West put his 49ers helmet down, stood outside the locker room for a brief chat, then smiled as he unwrapped black braces from his superpower wrists.
“First off, I was really excited to finally put the pads on, to get the full speed of the big leagues,” West said Monday after his first full-pad practice.
Three months ago, the 49ers spent their top five draft picks on defensive players. West, a 318-pound defensive tackle, was the fifth of the bunch, No. 113 overall in the fourth round.
He is less heralded than their first two picks, 6-foot-5 linemen Mykel Williams and Alfred Collins, but West will factor into an overhauled rotation. Monday’s debut in pads affirmed that.
“He’s like a little fire hydrant, right? He’s powerful. He’s got heavy hands,” defensive coordinator Robert Saleh said.
San Francisco 49ers defensive lineman C.J. West, bottom, performs a drill during practice at the team’s NFL football training camp, Sunday, July 27, 2025, in Santa Clara, Calif. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
West’s introduction to the big leagues began with one-on-one dominance against offensive linemen. He went 5-0 as he ripped his way past all comers, including starting right guard Dominick Puni, whose fleet feet and mirroring ability surprised West.
“Part of my game is how violent I am with my hands and what I can do with that,” West added. “A lot of times, I may be shorter than offensive linemen, so I need something to separate myself from other players.”
Chaddrian West Jr. is a 6-foot-1 native of Chicago. Yep, he’s tough. Yet, he’s charming (after fittingly majoring in public speaking). He didn’t take the easy road here. He played four years at Kent State before increasing his draft stock last year at Indiana.
He credits his ninja-like hand skills to forearm work in the weight room and, well, “just violently striking things, violently striking pads, working on how quickly you can shoot your hands when you get out of your stance.”
“He’s going to be fine. Like a lot of rookies, there are so many things he’s learning, especially on the interior of the D-line,” Saleh added. “It’s a game within a game. The first thing they do is pocket push, then they learn how to capture an edge and rush from there.”
West’s full-pad debut hit a wall in the full-team drills. Even with incumbent starter Jordan Elliott not practicing for unknown reasons, West mainly worked on the third-string defense, while Collins, Evan Anderson and Kalia Davis worked on the first string next to Kevin Givens. West attracted some double-team blocks, and although he didn’t make any big-time stops, he held his own.
“It was good to get the experience and understand the speed of the game, how they block differently, how aggressive they are when they do combo (blocks). So it was awesome,” West said.
Part of that experience was learning how to practice as hard as you can, even when you’re tired. This was the fifth practice of camp, but the first in pads and it was the longest at nearly two hours.
West was ready for that grind by training this offseason here alongside Williams and Collins. “I love those guys. Those are really cool dudes,” West said. “We’ve become really close throughout the offseason. We stayed here, trained with each other, got to know each other more and more, so when the time comes, we can trust and rely on each other when things get difficult and hard.”
West acknowledged he hasn’t yet had his “Welcome To The NFL” moment, but three preseason games await, as do joint practices against the Denver Broncos (Aug. 7) and the Las Vegas Raiders (Aug. 14).
It’s imperative the 49ers get all their rookies – heck, their entire new defense – aligned by the Sept. 7 regular-season opener in Seattle. That will officially start the clock on a rookie class that could be counted on more than any in recent 49ers memory, with the 1981 class having set the standard with a Super Bowl win.
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“First off, winning is how you make something special,” West said. “Throughout the season, win as much as possible, make history.”
West sounded like someone special back on draft day, when he told the media he’ll line up at 1-technique to “just abuse centers, be as violent as possible and just cause havoc down there in the middle.”
For now, West must adapt to the increased speed in the NFL. As for how the lifetime Midwesterner is coping with any culture shock in California, he said: “The weather, that’s the biggest difference. Once I got drafted, I was, ‘Man, it’s going to be hot all the time.’ But it’s really mild, 70 to 80 degrees. No humidity and there’s never a cloud in the sky. That’s absurd to me.”
NOTES: Defensive end Tarron Jackson returned Monday to the 49ers’ facility, although he did not practice after being discharged from Stanford hospital, where he went after sustaining an apparent neck injury in Sunday’s practice. … Wide receivers Jauan Jennings (calf) and Jacob Cowing (hamstring) did not practice, nor did Elliott, cornerback Renardo Green (hamstring). … Monday’s top plays included a Brock Purdy completion to George Kittle for a would-be 70-yard touchdown catch-and-run, and a Dee Winters interception of a Purdy passes intended for Kittle but deflected by safety Jason Pinnock. … Wide receiver RIcky Pearsall, in his second straight day practicing, made a sliding catch of a well-placed, 20-yard pass from Purdy. … Linebacker Fred Warner made a pass breakup on one of the many blitzes the 49ers have deployed more than usual in camp. … The one-on-one linemen drill opened with Trent Williams keeping Nick Bosa at bay, but Bosa rebounded with multiple would-be sacks in team drills while alternating from the left and right edges. … Dee Winters had the hit of the day, on an Isaac Guerendo run. … Russell Gage made an acrobatic, sideline catch of a Purdy pass against cornerback Tre Brown. … Darrell Luter Jr. got first crack at filling in for Green. … Cornerback Dallis Flowers had a one-handed interception in one-on-one coverage of Jordan Watkins.
