SANTA CLARA — As the 49ers Faithful grows impatient with Brandon Aiyuk's contract deadlock and practice boycott, left tackle Trent Williams' defiance is sparking an outcry on social media, which is addressed on this week's mailbag:

How confident are we that Trent will sign a brand new contract? (@andyz65c10)

Confidence stays high, as do Trent Williams' contract demands. General manager John Lynch said Wednesday there was “good communication” as they “bounced ideas” to eventually reach a breakthrough. Williams is simply halfway through a six-year contract that made him the NFL's highest-paid offensive lineman (at an annual salary of $10,000).

Three All-Pro honors followed in as a few years, so it's comprehensible if the 36-year-old Williams desires to get “paid, paid.” When he signed as a free agent in 2021 after a tryout, the ultimate yr of that contract (2026) offered a $32.2 million salary that encouraged Kyle Shanahan to pursue Williams; that salary could also be what he's already demanding. Nick Bosa's contract denial lasted until he signed a record-setting contract just days before last season's opening game, so why wouldn't Williams wish to do the identical? As a reminder, September 9 is the opening game against the New York Jets.

Will the O-Line be their downfall this yr? (@supanove)

Williams' status may determine that greater than the play of the opposite linemen. Rookie Dominick Puni faces a difficult baptism of fireside at right guard in Week 1, where he’ll likely face Quinnen Williams and ex-49ers Javon Kinlaw and Solomon Thomas. Left guard Aaron Banks is anticipated to return to practice next Tuesday after his recent pinky finger surgery. With center Jake Brendel and right tackle Colton McKivitz also returning, there’s a familiarity aspect which will profit the offensive line greater than every other unit. However, Williams is the unparalleled anchor and his absence would sabotage the season.

If Aaron Banks isn't ready for Week 1, would they offer Burford a likelihood or give Zakelj a likelihood since he's taken all of the reps? (@zachudamann)

Banks is a player. It's doubtful that a forged on his pinky/hand would sideline him early in his contract yr. As for the contingency plan, Nick Zakelj could get the nod if he's been practicing there since Banks left. Another option is the more experienced Ben Bartch, who was re-signed on Wednesday. Spencer Burford has barely practiced in a month and has never played left guard.

Is there a possibility that BA will play with no contract? (@spoileralerts)

His absence from practice on Wednesday answers that query. After missing 20 practices for the reason that start of coaching camp, he has been physically healing from neck and back problems that were previously cited as the rationale for his on-field boycotts. His contract still stands, but at a salary of $14.1 million, lower than half the rising market price.

Who is almost certainly to make a deal this weekend? (@michael_budd)

Publicly, Williams' negotiations don't seem so bad. But the 49ers have thrown down the gauntlet to Aiyuk by announcing that he’s physically fit to practice. While which may be just one other negotiating tactic, “at some point you have to play,” John Lynch said before practice Wednesday.

Who shall be called up as TE3? (@romanfour0)

The almost certainly option is Jake Tonges, a child from Los Gatos who has done well and made the initial 53-man roster because the only other tight end besides George Kittle. Eric Saubert re-signed on Wednesday and established himself because the No. 2 tight end. That's the likely three-man unit to switch recent versions of Kittle, Charlie Woerner and Ross Dwelley. Brayden Willis and Mason Pline lurk on the practice squad.

Has George Kittle's tremendous success (not to say his draft position) tainted any future TE signings/draftees in management's eyes? (@maestroRDW)

They will proceed to fish, as they do yearly, to search out a defensive end to enrich Bosa. What the 49ers need is a decent end who, like Kittle, could make the big leap from temperamental rookie to second-year All-Pro. Woerner and Dwelley never made that leap, nor did 2023 draft picks Willis and Cam Latu. Perhaps Pline is a diamond within the rough who can develop on the practice squad.

Who shall be the shooting star this season? And who shall be a disappointment? (@SFG_soccer)

Let's think beyond the growing success of cornerback Deommodore Lenior. The 49ers' last true stars at defensive tackle were Justin Smith a decade ago and DeForest Buckner five years ago. New addition Maliek Collins may very well be a steal this offseason after being acquired from Houston for a seventh-round pick. The disappointment of this season? All 53 players in the event that they don't win the Super Bowl.

Do you think that the team would slightly re-sign Ward or Lenoir? It obviously won't be possible to bring each back? (@BigShot_Mike)

Who knows what the 49ers are budgeting beyond Brock Purdy's second contract (and potentially the NFL's largest)? Ward received loads of praise last season to bolster his contract offer irrespective of how this season plays out. Lenoir's versatility for granted cornerback and within the slot should make him extremely attractive, and he will definitely attract more targets than Ward this season to set his market value. Lenoir ought to be cheaper, however the 49ers' budget could dictate that.

Why Brandon Allen and never the opposite child? (@vb_bassist)

Tanner Mordecai, the 24-year-old kid nearly two months older than Brock Purdy, gained enough admiration to return to the practice squad. Allen, the No. 3 quarterback last season behind Purdy and Sam Darnold, excelled enough in training camp and the preseason to remain on board. Whether Allen is QB2 or if Josh Dobbs swindled his way into that job, Shanahan hasn't said yet and will not achieve this until game day.

Suddenly we noticed the teeth – an entire row, large, grey and pointed.

During a multi-day hike in Badlands National Park, our girls were determined to seek out a fossil and kept stopping to look the bottom.

They searched for differences in texture, attempting to spot smooth bones, as we walked along one among the park's distinctive rock outcrops. Wind and rain erode the rocks of the Badlands at a rate of about an inch per 12 months, continually exposing fossils that were formed thousands and thousands of years ago.

By this point, my husband and I were getting just a little bored with consistently urging our youngsters, ages 7 and 10, to maintain going, so we weren't expecting much when the younger one, Emilia, called out that the 2 had found something off the trail. Her sister, Elise, had noticed a small, white fragment of bone near where they’d stopped for a water break. Emilia looked closer and realized that a much larger piece was stuck within the cracked, crumbly ground.

When we saw these teeth, we realized that they’d discovered the jaw and maybe even all the head of an ancient creature. The whole family was very excited and told the park rangers in regards to the discovery.

To report on the women' discovery, we participated within the park's Fossil Finder program in South Dakota, a citizen science project. The experience was a highlight of our stay within the otherworldly landscape of the Badlands, where we also stargazed, spotted bison and went on hikes just like the Notch Trail, with its ascent via a picket ladder.

We later learned that the women had discovered the fossilized jaw of an oreodont—a prehistoric creature that paleontologists say probably looked like a cross between a camel, a sheep, and a pig.

The park's Ben Reifel Visitor Center features an energetic paleontology lab, where we watched scientists and interns prepare fossils and learned in regards to the ancient mammals that lived here thousands and thousands of years ago.

The park is home to one among the world's richest fossil deposits, and the Fossil Exhibit Trail, just a brief drive from the middle, features replicas and exhibits about extinct creatures – including the ancestors of horses and rhinos.

The parkland was once a savannah of lush grasslands and herds of oreodonts, which paleontologists estimate were once as common as zebras are in Africa's Serengeti today. They roamed here during a period from the Eocene to the Miocene, spanning from 40 million to five million years ago.

In the laboratory, display cases are stuffed with objects found by visitors, and the park tries to stop poaching by encouraging visitors to depart fossils where they’re and to document and report them at the middle.

The recent direct flights to Ireland are unbelievable – but here's why it’s best to avoid Dublin

When we arrived, a ranger told us about one of the dramatic discoveries that took place in 2010. A bit girl discovered a shiny white piece of fossil in the bottom near the visitor center and filled out a report. It turned out to be a rare, well-preserved fossil of a saber-toothed cat called Nimravida. A puncture mark within the fossilized skull suggests that the traditional creature was killed in a cat fight with one other Nimravida.

This story inspired our girls to make a discovery of their very own, and so they turned every hike right into a fossil expedition until they succeeded.

Although oreodonts are found rather more incessantly, a ranger helped them fill out a form to document the positioning, complete with an outline and GPS coordinates, so a paleontologist could investigate. She took a photograph of them – each smiling and proud – to hold within the lab and gave each of them a “Fossil Finder” patch.

Many of the park's marked trails are short, and we enjoyed several of them on relatively cool mornings – including the favored Notch, Window, Door and Cliff Shelf trails. We hiked a leg of the park's longest trail, the 10-mile Castle Trail, which takes us through the prairie at the sting of the Badlands formations. One afternoon we drove past the striking Pinnacles Overlook to Roberts Prairie Dog Town, where a big herd of bison grazed nearby.

We spent a complete of three nights within the park, in one among the tiny cabins at Cedar Pass Lodge. The easy lodge dates back to 1928, before the Badlands were declared a national monument (they became a national park in 1978).

From the back porch, we watched storms approach and lightning strike over the distant mesas almost every night. The rain accelerates the erosion of the park's rock formations, exposing fossils for future visitors to find.

On our last night, the storms held off. Just before sunset, we left the boardwalk and entered the unique portion of the Door Trail. The girls walked along the rocky bottom from trail marker to trail marker while the sun reached just the suitable angle, hitting the rock formations and making them glow.

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When you go

Badlands National Park

Where: Western South Dakota

Admission: $30/vehicle (nps.gov/badl).

Ben Reifel Visitor Center: 25216 Hwy. 240, Interior, SD

Cedar Pass Lodge: 20681 Hwy. 240, interior; cedarpasslodge.com.

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©2024 The Minnesota Star Tribune. Visit startribune.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Originally published: August 28, 2024 at 12:05 p.m.

Bruins

BEDFORD — It stays to be seen whether the Bruins could have their captain available Tuesday as they fight to stave off elimination against the Florida Panthers.

Before the Bruins departed for South Florida on Monday afternoon, Don Sweeney provided a temporary update on the status of Brad Marchand, who was out for Game 4 with an upper-body injury.

“Brad skated today,” Sweeney said. “He’ll travel with the team, he’s still in the day-to-day and hopefully carries on – boys have got to give him a chance.”

The Marchand sunrise hike is a step in the correct direction. The remainder of his teammates needing to “give him a chance” could signal that the Bruins may have to win Game 5 and return to Boston to offer the 36-year-old winger enough time to be cleared to play.

Marchand was injured in Game 3 of Boston's second-round series against Florida after he was hit within the face in an on-ice collision with Panthers forward Sam Bennett.

No penalties were assessed for the sport, and Bennett also received no additional disciplinary motion from the league following Marchand's injury.

Marchand, who struggled to get back on his skates after his collision with Bennett, played just 10:51 of ice time Friday and didn’t return within the third period of Boston's Game 3 loss.

A brand new camera angle released Sunday night of the collision between Bennett and Marchand in Game 3 provided clear evidence that it was Bennett's strike that sent the Bruins falling forward onto the ice – and never a heavy backward strike.

After Florida's Game 4 win on Sunday, Bennett defended his clash with Marchand.

“Obviously in this game I’m not trying to hit him in the head like everyone says,” Bennett told the NHL on TNT team on Sunday. “Other people may have different opinions. I'm just preparing for him to hit me. There was no way I would have had time to think about hitting him in the head. People can see it however they want.

“It’s playoff hockey. There will be tough games. Of course it’s unfortunate that he got hit, but for me it’s just a hockey game.”

The Bruins travel back to Florida to face the Panthers in Game 5 on Tuesday at 7 p.m. The return of Marchand — who leads Boston in playoff scoring with 10 points in 10 games — would supply a significant boost to a desperate Boston squad.