49ers mailbag: Will the playbook change with Mullens starting? Can Pettis step up?

The 49ers are spending the week at The Greenbrier in West Virginia ahead of Sunday’s road game against the New York Giants, but like other beat reporters, I’ll be sleuthing around the team from home.

Of particular interest this week: how the team handles the ongoing injury crisis that got considerably worse last weekend when Nick Bosa and Solomon Thomas were lost for the year with ACL tears, Jimmy Garoppolo suffered a dreaded high-ankle sprain and the turf at MetLife Stadium hardly inspired confidence toward the eventual return of George Kittle.

There’s also the uncertain situation at running back, which became complicated by knee injuries for Raheem Mostert and Tevin Coleman that could cost them multiple games. If there’s a silver lining for the defending NFC champions, it’s that this is all happening early in the season and a number of their key players are expected to return from injuries at some point.

With that cheery news, let’s get to this week’s mailbag questions!

Tim asks: If Nick Mullens is named the starter, how much do you think Kyle will simplify the offense? Or, do you think Kyle has enough trust in Mullens to keep the whole playbook open?

There might be some shifting of the playbook to accentuate what Mullens does well that might be different from what the team does with Garoppolo, but I don’t think the breadth of the playbook is going to change.

Keep in mind, Mullens has been in the system longer than Garoppolo, albeit not by much. He was an undrafted rookie in 2017, joining the team in May, and Garoppolo didn’t arrive until Halloween.

“I think you always see the full playbook,” Kyle Shanahan said Monday. “Whatever we take into a game plan, that’s how we’re attacking that game, those defenses and what we think our players do best. So, that doesn’t change much, whether he’s in his third year or first year.”

The focus will be on stuff Mullens can only work on with game reps. Shanahan mentioned Mullens’ cadence was off a touch, which is why a couple plays Sunday started with poor timing and were disjointed. The focus during practice this week, assuming Garoppolo doesn’t play, will be to get the timing down with the offense line and his pass catchers.

Shanahan has always been a big proponent of Mullens. And I’d bet he’d tell you he thinks Mullens is one of the more capable backups in the entire league. I wouldn’t be surprised if the 49ers offense had a smooth game with Mullens under center against the Giants on Sunday.

Tony asks: Dante Pettis plays a lot better with Mullens under center. You think we see Pettis get hot with a QB he has better chemistry with or is he too far into Kyle’s dog house to come out?

It’s clear that Pettis and Garoppolo have struggled to get on the same page. That’s been true dating back to last year’s training camp and it’s continued so far this season. Pettis has a grand total of zero catches on one target in two games. Pettis saw his snaps drop from 45 in the opener to 10 against the Jets.

Does that change this week with Mullens in the mix? I don’t think so, barring a great week of practice from Pettis at The Greenbrier.

I’d imagine Brandon Aiyuk, Kendrick Bourne and Trent Taylor will remain ahead of Pettis in the pecking order, and Pettis might also be in danger of getting passed up by Mohamed Sanu, who played 13 snaps Sunday despite getting just one official practice in last week.

Given the ample opportunities Pettis has had while other receivers have been hurt, it’s hard to be optimistic that he’ll breakthrough and become a productive member of the offense.

Antonio asks: Is it wrong to be optimistic? I mean EVERY team is gonna be dealing with something this season.

It’s not a bad point. This upcoming game is proof. The Giants lost their best player, Saquon Barkley, to an ACL tear last week in Chicago. Barkley may be even more important to New York than Bosa is to San Francisco, given the Giants’ roster doesn’t have near the level of top-end talent of the 49ers’.

Other key season-ending injuries: Broncos defensive end Von Miller went out for the year before it started with a foot injury. Chargers safety Derwin James tore his meniscus. Colts safety Malik Hooker tore his Achilles. Vikings linebacker Anthony Barr suffered a shoulder injury. The Seahawks lost pass rusher Bruce Irvin and safety Marquise Blair to torn ACLs. And the list goes on.

The silver lining for San Francisco is the 49ers are expecting most, if not all, their remaining injured players to return at some point this season. So when Kittle, Richard Sherman, Deebo Samuel, Garoppolo and Mostert are back, the 49ers should still have one of the better rosters in the league.

The wild card, of course, is Dee Ford, who would make Bosa’s absence much easier to swallow if he could come back and put up a season like he did in 2018. But Ford is dealing with a back injury and the 49ers haven’t offered many details, which indicates it could be problematic. There’s no doubt making a return trip to the Super Bowl would be exceedingly difficult without the team’s top two pass rushers off the edge.

Mikal asks: What do you believe is the reasoning behind all the injuries league wide? Seven ACLs in one day. Outta shape? Bad luck? Does anything prevent the injuries? Does preseason or training camps save those knees?

I wish I could tell you. I’m sure the league and the players association are looking into it.

On the surface, I think it would be easy to point to the lack of a traditional offseason program and the curtailed version of training camp. On the other hand, Bosa came into camp in great shape and said he centered his offseason regimen around injury prevention. So he either did a terrible job or Sunday’s injury was just a freak accident. I’m going with the latter.

Football is a rough game and players are getting stronger and faster all the time. Injuries are inevitable. But I do wonder, generally, if the limited practice time that became part of the league during the last CBA negotiations in 2011 has come with unintended consequences.

There might be something to the idea of players’ bodies being hardened by long training camps with a month of two practices a day. It’s sort of like your grandma who can drink Jack Daniels and water every day into her 90s and never have any liver problems. Maybe the human body adapts that way.

I’m clearly getting over my skis and this is a conversation for people far smarter than I. Let’s move on. I’m getting thirsty.

Brian asks: What will JaMycal Hasty’s role be if he is elevated from the practice squad? Would he see snaps in the backfield while Mostert and Coleman are out?

I think Hasty would have a hard time getting snaps if McKinnon and Jeff Wilson Jr. are healthy. Wilson could end up being the starter so the team could keep McKinnon’s work load down and keep building him up. I’d imagine Hasty would see something in the range of five to 10 reps if he’s active on Sunday, which all signs are pointing to.

I was bold (or dumb) enough to predict Hasty would make the active roster out of training camp. He didn’t, of course, but my opinion of him remains the same. He might be the team’s second most versatile halfback on the roster behind McKinnon. He was a much better route runner and pass catcher than I expected after my scouting (I.E., YouTube browsing) when he signed following the draft.

Generally, Shanahan and running backs coach Bobby Turner have a long track record of identifying undrafted running backs. I think Hasty could be next in line. I just wouldn’t expect that to become apparent this week in his likely NFL debut.

Eddie asks: Thanks for the great work Chris, pleasure reading your stuff. My question is this, does the league have any power in making owners place grass in their stadiums rather than turf.? If there are studies to prove grass is safer why not force owners to put grass for safety?

I’m not answering this because you’re buttering me up, but I can’t say that’s not the reason, either.

The league leaves these decisions up to the individual teams. And I’d have to think a decision like this would be collectively bargained with the players. For some reason, it hasn’t been a sticking point in those talks (that I know of).

I do know players look at playing surfaces when they make decisions in free agency. Eight to 10 games a year on artificial turf can be a deal-breaker for some guys.

But it’s a question worth asking. Why can’t the league, which is worth billions of dollars, force teams with outdoor stadiums to have natural grass playing surfaces? Why can the Packers have grass in Lambeau but teams like the Patriots, Bengals or Bills can’t? In some cases, perhaps with the New York teams, the answer comes down to wear and tear, given they’ll host 16 regular season games at MetLife Stadium in a normal year.

There are five outdoor stadiums with artificial surfaces: Seattle, New England, Cincinnati, New York and Buffalo. And there are two indoor stadiums with natural grass: Arizona and Las Vegas, which wheel their surfaces inside after growing them outdoors.

I think the NFL should follow the lead of the English Premier League, which has natural grass in all of its stadiums. Yes, it would be impossible for the teams with domed stadiums, but I don’t see why outdoor venues couldn’t grow the real stuff.

This story was originally published September 23, 2020 at 7:30 AM.