49ers have been able to keep a close eye on Davis' offseason

Trent Baalke, the team's vice president of player personnel, said Tuesday that "all indications" are that the 49ers will have their entire draft class signed by Monday's opening practice. The team's four top picks remain without a contract, including first-round offensive linemen Anthony Davis and Mike Iupati.

A year ago, the 49ers failed to reach an agreement with Crabtree, their first-round pick, until October. Crabtree played well upon signing, but his prolonged absence cost the player — and the team — a chance for more.

Speaking at the second annual State of the Franchise event before Frank Gore approximately 1,000 season-ticket holders at the Santa Clara Convention Center, Baalke said he anticipates his rookies to be around starting with Day One. "We fully expect them to be here and ready to go," he said.

Cowboys receiver Dez Bryant, the 24th pick overall, is the only NFL first-rounder to sign. Baalke told reporters offstage that he expects there to be a domino effect once other first-rounders start agreeing to terms. "Right now, everyone is in a holding pattern," he said.

In the meantime, the 49ers have been able to keep a close eye on Davis' offseason Alex Smith  conditioning. The tackle struggled with weight issues at Rutgers, once ballooning to 365 pounds, but the 49ers jerseys want him to stay closer

"I've certainly been a lot of places that they're trying to go to. It's just real important for me as a coach to remember what I felt as a player in certain situations.

"What I don't do with my team is I don't talk about my career a lot - I don't say 'when I played, we did this etc etc' or 'these players used to train like this..'

"I try to make them understand that I've seen a lot of great teams, and there's a lot of common denominators with them. They all had great players, and great coaches, but there were no individual stars, they work as a team.

"It's important for our team to know that I'm not trying to make them the 85 Bears, I'm trying to make them the 2010 49ers and a great football team - I want them to draw from other great teams but I want this team to be unique, to be special and that's what I'm aiming to do."

Singletary imposed his will on the team immediately as he sent star tight end Vernon Davis to the locker room before the end one of his first games in charge after he gave away a needless penalty.

It has been clear from then on that Singletary holds discipline as one of his core values, and even the biggest-name player on his team will not get any special treatment.

Champions

"There's no room for individual egos on a team - I don't care how great a player is, he will bring your team to its knees if you allow him to operate under a different set of rules.

"That is something I'm not going to do - I made that clear at the beginning - and that goes for our coaches too. I want us to act like champions both on and off the field, I want us to play like champions and live like champions, I think that's what it's all about."

Singletary also holds himself and his coaching staff accountable too, and will never impose a team rule that he himself is allowed to break.

"It was important to establish the level of excellence we're going to have as a team, what is acceptable and what is not - from everyone, there will be no individuals on this team - rules will stand for everyone, including myself.

"I always make sure I don't disqualify myself - everything I ask them to do I should be able to do as a leader. Too often you find leaders who say 'this is how you should act, is how it should be done' but they go away and break their rules and do something totally different - that's hypocritical, that's going to cause problems."

The 49ers football jerseys opening and closing stretch is not easy. Three of their first four games are on the road, and their only home game during that stretch comes against the Super Bowl champion Saints. The good news is all three road games are against 2009 non-playoff teams and San Francisco should be favored in two of them – it has opened as a two-point favorite at Seattle. San Francisco is 34-29-1 overall in season openers, which includes a 6-3 record in its past nine opening contests. It split with the Seahawks last year and that one loss was the Niners' only one in the division.

A 2-2 record in the first four, at worst, should be manageable and allow the Niners to potentially take off with a favorable schedule until Week 12. San Francisco, like every NFC West team, gets a break in facing the AFC West, which really features only San Diego as a likely playoff team (maybe Denver). If the Niners can hold serve at home (including the London game) in that next four-game stretch, a 5-3 record at the bye sets them up nicely for the second half. That Eagles game is the first matchup ever for the Niners on NBC's "Sunday Night Football." The last time they played on Sunday night (NBC didn't have it then) was 2005. That game with the Bay area neighboring Raiders is the first between the teams since 2006.