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John Lynch Explains Why the 49ers Waived Cameron Latu

Good luck in Cleveland, Cam.

Grant Cohn

Aug 18, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers tight end Cameron Latu (81) runs past New Orleans Saints linebacker Willie Gay Jr. (6) after making a catch in the second quarter at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Cary Edmondson-USA TODAY Sports
Aug 18, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers tight end Cameron Latu (81) runs past New Orleans Saints linebacker Willie Gay Jr. (6) after making a catch in the second quarter at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Cary Edmondson-USA TODAY Sports / Cary Edmondson-USA TODAY Sports
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SANTA CLARA -- A year after the 49ers drafted Cameron Latu in Round 3, they waived him. And he never played a regular-season snap.

He was so bad in training camp last year, they put him on Injured Reserve without a designation to return. And then he was so bad in training camp this year, they waived them even though they had used premium draft capital to acquire him. Now, he's on the Cleveland Browns' practice squad. That's how bad of a job Latu has done since getting drafted.

“Cam did a great job," general John Lynch said on Wednesday. "Had two knee surgeries in his time here. But, couldn't have asked for anything more in terms of his work ethic. I think we just kind of, you fall into some good players. [TE Eric] Saubert is a guy that we went out and got in free agency, really has been a nice find for us both at tight end and at special teams. [TE] Jake Tonges has been really, I'd say, a surprise and played really well. [TE] Brayden Willis was a tough cut, but he's back on our practice squad. I think there was just tough competition. Cam can do a lot of good things. I saw he landed on, I believe, Cleveland's practice squad. I'm excited for him and his opportunities. The thing everyone liked about Cam coming in is he could do a little bit of everything. And it takes, I always tell players, it took me until my third year to start in this league, and things went pretty well. It happens at different times for different players. You want to be able to hold on, but when you've got a roster, sometimes you have to make tough decisions. And that was certainly a tough one, because Cam gave us everything he had.”

I'm guessing the 49ers would have signed Latu to their practice squad but he wanted a fresh start elsewhere.

Good luck in Cleveland, Cam.

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Grant Cohn
GRANT COHN

Grant Cohn has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily since 2011. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat where he wrote the Inside the 49ers blog and covered famous coaches and athletes such as Jim Harbaugh, Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Willis. In 2012, Inside the 49ers won Sports Blog of the Year from the Peninsula Press Club. In 2020, Cohn joined FanNation and began writing All49ers. In addition, he created a YouTube channel which has become the go-to place on YouTube to consume 49ers content. Cohn's channel typically generates roughly 3.5 million viewers per month, while the 49ers' official YouTube channel generates roughly 1.5 million viewers per month. Cohn live streams almost every day and posts videos hourly during the football season. Cohn is committed to asking the questions that 49ers fans want answered, and providing the most honest and interactive coverage in the country. His loyalty is to the reader and the viewer, not the team or any player or coach. Cohn is a new-age multimedia journalist with an old-school mentality, because his father is Lowell Cohn, the legendary sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1979 to 1993. The two have a live podcast every Tuesday. Grant Cohn grew up in Oakland and studied English Literature at UCLA from 2006 to 2010. He currently lives in Oakland with his wife.

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