Adams confident of spot on 49er roster

<p>SANTA CLARA — A word to the wise: Don't challenge Phillip Adams to a game of Old Maid, or Risk, or dominoes, unless you plan to bring your A game.</p><p>“I want to win,” Adams said this week, laughing at his own expense. “My brother's the same way, my sister. If we're gonna do something, even if we're playing a game of cards, man, we want to win. Me and my brother play spades all the time, and he gets mad at me because I play the wrong hand sometimes. We're mad at each other. I'm mad at myself, too. We're just a whole competitive family.”</p><p>That extends to Adams' father, who worked hard as a machinist and even harder when he became a truck driver. And it applies to his mother, a former school teacher who was paralyzed from the neck down in a car accident last October, and is trying to recover her abilities.</p><p>The competitive spirit goes a long way toward explaining why Adams is threatening to stick around past Saturday. As a seventh-round draft choice from South Carolina State, he didn't exactly have the pedigree of a can't-miss NFL cornerback. But heading into the final exhibition game tonight against the Chargers, Adams is on the verge of beating the odds and landing a spot on the 49ers' 53-man roster.</p><p>His confidence was evident from the outset, but it took a while for Adams' talent to catch up. He started making plays at cornerback a couple weeks into training camp, and really emerged in the preseason games. Lately he has been working with the No.2 defense, and even got work with the first team in dime package.</p><p>Adams admitted that he had been too tight early in camp as he struggled to mentally grasp Greg Manusky's defense.</p><p>“I wasn't able to make no plays because I was trying to figure out, ‘Where am I supposed to be on this drop?' and ‘Where am I supposed to be on that drop?'” he said. “Now it's like I'm a looser player. So I can make breaks on the ball, and I know where my help is. ... And I think that's what's helping me right now.”</p><p>Also helping is his emergence as a punt returner. According to Adams, he ran back two punts for touchdowns toward the end of his junior year at South Carolina State. He nearly had a third at Appalachian State, but ran out of gas on the 5-yard line. Part of the problem was the moderate elevation at Boone, N.C. Part of it was overexertion — he was also starting at cornerback.</p><p>Going into his senior year, Adams' coaches decided he was too valuable on defense and dialed him back on punts.</p><p>So you can imagine how rusty Adams felt two weeks ago when the 49ers suddenly put him back to catch punts in practice. He had to get used to the breezy conditions in Santa Clara, and to the height and velocity of Andy Lee's booming punts. Adams wasn't entirely smooth at first. But he immediately became a contender for the job when he took a punt and bolted for an 83-yard touchdown against the Raiders last Saturday.</p><p>Most observers think Adams has a chance to stick when the 49ers cut down from 75 players to 53 on Saturday, but he wants one more game to shine.</p><p>“I aim every day to surprise,” he said. “I have the underdog mentality, to be honest with you. I never get satisfied, I never get complacent. Because I feel like when you get complacent, your play starts to go down a little bit.”</p><p>So far, that hasn't happened to Adams at the NFL level. Like a punt fresh off of Andy Lee's foot, his play has been going straight up.</p><p>FAMILY FEUD</p><p>Tight end Vernon Davis and wide receiver Michael Crabtree got into a heated discussion during a walk-through Wednesday morning, with Davis doing most of the talking and gesticulating. Coach Mike Singletary came alongside the two and then accompanied both to the locker room. Davis emerged alone, and Singletary and Crabtree followed 5 to 10 minutes later.</p><p>After the walk-through, Singletary said it was not a football issue that had caused the argument, and that he was relieved to have “the elephant in the room” gone.</p><p>“They were both wrong,” he said. “And we will not have distractions on this team, Vernon just forgot temporarily, and that is not allowed. We don't do that. We don't treat family like that. We don't disrespect each other. ... He did the right thing, but he did it the wrong way.”</p><p>EXTRA POINT</p><p>QB Alex Smith and RBs Frank Gore and Brian Westbrook will not play against the Chargers. Davis probably won't, either; he injured his knee in the first exhibition game at Indianapolis. Crabtree, who has missed time with a neck strain, is a maybe.</p><p>David Carr will likely start in place of Smith.</p><p>For more on the 49ers, go to Instant 49ers at blog.pressdemocrat.com/49ers. You can reach Staff Writer Phil Barber at 521-5263 or phil.barber@pressdemocrat.com.</p>