Pats’ Bill Belichick offers faint praise for 49ers’ Trent Baalke

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Niners general manager Trent Baalke entered the NFL in 1998 as a personnel scout with the Jets, who counted Bill Belichick as their defensive backs coach.

Nearly two decades later, the Patriots’ head coach was asked about his two seasons with Baalke in advance of New England’s visit to Levi’s Stadium on Sunday.

Have they kept in touch?

“Yeah, I’ve talked to Trent, sure,” Belichick said during a conference call with Bay Area reporters. “I think he had his philosophy of what he’s done with the team. He’s added a lot of talented players and has drafted some big, fast guys. Defensive linemen. Offensive linemen last year. He’s taken some developmental-type players like (outside linebacker Tank ) Carradine . Injury-type guy.

“So I think a lot of the guys that he has drafted and put in his team probably every team in the league would like to have some of those players.”

That sounds like vague, faint praise for Baalke, who is taking plenty of criticism for the 49ers’ 1-8 start. For example, the lone player Belichick mentioned, Carradine, was a 2013 second-round pick who has one career start and four sacks after suffering a torn ACL at Florida State.

However, it should be noted that Belichick doesn’t emote much in the media.

He often was clipped when asked about 49ers head coach Chip Kelly , a good friend he used to invite to the Patriots’ facility when Kelly was the offensive coordinator at New Hampshire.

Belichick said he has used a lot of Kelly’s ideas with the Patriots. Could he cite some examples?

“I could give a lot of them,” Belichick said, “but I don’t think that’s really the point.”

Injury report: Wide receiver Torrey Smith , who has been listed on recent injury reports with a back problem, missed his second straight practice with a shoulder ailment he presumably suffered in the loss at Arizona on Sunday.

Smith’s back issue was not listed on the injury report.

“We’ll see and we’ll observe him as we go along this week,” Kelly said. “So I don’t know what his status will be for Sunday.”

Eric Branch is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer.