49ers mailbag: Will the defense slow Murray? Will Mohamed Sanu be signed?

Does it feel weird to anyone else that football season is upon us? Maybe the canceled preseason caused us to miss the tease that starts our collective football engines.

But Week 1 is officially here, with the Chiefs hosting Houston on Thursday and the 49ers are playing the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday inside an empty Levi’s Stadium. So let’s get to our first mailbag of the regular season, shall we?

Jake asks: Last year it seemed like the Cardinals threw a lot of quick reads and Kyler Murray’s athleticism to neutralize the Niners’ elite pass rush. Do you envision the same game plan being used in week 1 and a more experienced Murray?

Yes, I’m expecting the Cardinals to go use a lot “quick game” against the 49ers by spreading them out and getting the ball out of Murray’s hands fast to prevent Nick Bosa and Dee Ford from teeing off on deep drops.

Last year was a mixed bag for the 49ers’ defense against the No. 1 pick. There was the Halloween game where Murray averaged a season-best 10.04 yards per attempt. A few factors were at play.

That game was played on a short week following the drubbing of the Panthers. A letdown from the defense seemed likely given the team had improved to 7-0 the week prior — and Murray’s numbers were helped dramatically by the 88-yard touchdown to Andy Isabella in the fourth quarter.

Things tightened up two weeks later when San Francisco played Arizona following a frustrating overtime loss to the Seahawks. The 49ers held Murray to a season-low 4.55 yards per attempt in the late win capped by Jeff Wilson Jr.’s touchdown catch and run. The defense was much sharper and wanted to rebound from the Halloween performance, which some defenders called the worst of the season to that point.

Which will we get Sunday? I wish I could tell you. That uncertainty adds to the intrigue of the opener.

Charles asks: With some cap space, do you see us bringing in a vet receiver, Mohamed Sanu, potentially? Great fit, ran Kyle’s offense before. Bringing Emmanuel Sanders in last year took us over that hump.

I think the 49ers want to see what they have with their current group first. And, frankly, Sanu flaming out in New England, to me, says a lot about his value right now.

The Patriots need all the weapons they can get for Cam Newton and the fact they were willing to move on from Sanu after trading a second-round pick next year means he might not be very good anymore.

Despite the injury issues during training camp, it seems Brandon Aiyuk (hamstring) and Deebo Samuel (broken foot) will be available at some point this month, even if they don’t play in the opener. Aiyuk had the best camp of any rookie receiver since I started covering the team in 2013.

With a potential top four of Samuel, Aiyuk, Trent Taylor and Kendrick Bourne, the 49ers might have a better receiving corps than many expected coming into the season. Health is the obvious wild card here. General manager John Lynch said as much last week.

Matt asks: SF offense ranked just No. 20 in red zone offense. Do the additions of Jordan Reed, Trent Taylor and Jet (Jerick McKinnon) give us more versatility in this area?

That’s the team’s thinking. Reed, during his best seasons, had 11 and six touchdown catches with Washington in 2015 and 2016, which were more than any 49er pass catcher had in 2019 (George Kittle and Bourne both led the team with five). And Taylor was one of Jimmy Garoppolo’s favorite targets in key situations back in 2017.

McKinnon is the offense’s wild card. If he’s anything close to his pre-injury form, it wouldn’t surprise me if he carves out a significant role in the offense, perhaps taking snaps from Tevin Coleman as the No. 2 running back.

Keep in mind, the 49ers also have a big-play offense. Twenty of their 56 touchdowns last season went 21 yards or longer, meaning they never got to the red zone on those possessions. Though it’s hard to say whether their red zone efficiency numbers would have been better if they had.

Erick asks: Will Javon Kinlaw’s rookie season be a splash or bust?

I’m never a fan of speaking in absolutes. But if you’re expecting Kinlaw to be DeForest Buckner right away, then you’ll probably be left wanting more, perhaps significantly more in 2020.

But if you’re willing to accept Kinlaw as a run-down player before evolving into a more refined pass rusher in 2021 and 2022, then I imagine you’ll be happy with him this season.

Kinlaw is big and strong. His teammates gush about his willingness to learn and he admitted during training camp he didn’t think he was playing all that well. Remember, Buckner was a unique case. Not many interior defensive lineman come in and play at a high level right away.

It’s more likely the 49ers count on replacing Buckner by getting production from depth guys like Solomon Thomas, D.J. Jones and Kentavius Street (who had a very good camp).

Berserker asks: Seems like the prevailing wisdom is that Emmanuel Moseley will start the year as the starter opposite Sherm. If that is indeed true, how long a leash do you think E-Man will have?

Pretty long, I would guess, though the coaching staff hasn’t shied away from pulling guys off the field if they’re getting torched. But Moseley is known for being steady, not up and down, like Ahkello Witherspoon.

There’s also a new position coach to factor in. We don’t know how new secondary coach Tony Oden will handle his group. Joe Woods, last year’s passing game coordinator, didn’t have any problem benching Witherspoon in Week 17 or in the divisional round after giving up the long touchdown to Stefon Diggs.

Tony asks: Let’s hear your best guess at inactives for week 1. I feel like beat writers hate this question.

Here’s a little secret. Beat writers enjoy predicting inactives. Though it’s not something they do publicly. Some make their lists during Friday practices based on attendance during the week. Others will pre-write their inactive blog posts before games.

They don’t do so publicly because it’s never a good idea to speculate about injuries. The upside is minimal and the downside is being wrong and having to own up to it.

That said, I’m doing to refrain from making any predictions about inactive here. We’ll have a better idea when we take practice attendance Wednesday.

But here’s the good news for the 49ers: Bosa and Ford were back on the field Monday, as were fullback Kyle Juszczyk and Taylor.

Still to be determined: center Ben Garland, Aiyuk, Samuel, and Fred Warner, who remains on the reserve/COVID-19 list Monday Aug. 3. Wednesday will be nine days since landing on the list, and Warner must pass three consecutive tests before returning to the team.

The only think the team can publicly say about Warner is whether or not he’s on the list. As of this writing, he’s on the list, so the 49ers have to be preparing for not having him Sunday.