49ers bye week report card: Bright starts and sore spots in an erratic season
The San Francisco 49ers’ dreary 2020 defense of last season’s conference championship is taking a much-needed hiatus.
Coach Kyle Shanahan’s team is away from the team facility for the first time since players reported to training camp in August and won’t play again until after Thanksgiving, Nov. 29 when they travel to play the Los Angeles Rams.
At that point, Shanahan is hoping to have players such as cornerback Richard Sherman, running backs Raheem Mostert and Tevin Coleman and receiver Deebo Samuel back to help the team play more competitively with backup quarterback Nick Mullens under center.
At 4-6 following Sunday’s loss to the New Orleans Saints, San Francisco’s playoff hopes are incredibly thin (ESPN estimates there’s a 13.8 percent chance), but the new playoff structure featuring seven teams from each conference means an 8-8 finish could lead to getting back into the conversation. That, of course, would take a 4-2 finish over the final six weeks, which is a tough task given four of the remaining opponents are currently holding postseason spots, including all three NFC West rivals.
So let’s offer up our grades in a snapshot of each position group now that we have some time off to rest our high-ankle sprains and tight hamstrings.
Quarterbacks: D
Yes, injuries are factored into this unofficial grading, but this isn’t a sliding scale. The 49ers don’t get a boost in their record because the NFL feels sorry for them because of all their injuries, so we’re not going to grade on a curve here, either. The 49ers have thrown 11 interceptions, the third-highest total in the NFL. Six have come from Nick Mullens while Jimmy Garoppolo is responsible for five. Quarterback turnovers have been the team’s undoing in many of their losses this season, which falls on the guy under center, healthy or not. For Garoppolo, turnovers were his Achilles heal in 2019 and he did little to improve on that area this season. His 3.6% interception rate is the highest of his career, and noticeably worse than last season’s 2.7% clip. Are other factors involved? Of course. The running game has been hit or miss (mostly a miss, lately), the offensive line has taken a step back and five different combinations of receivers have started over the first 10 games. But the quarterback play has to improve in 2021, whether that’s getting back a healthy Garoppolo for a full season or going a different direction.
Running backs: B-
The 49ers over their last three games rushed for 156 yards and just 2.4 yards per carry. That’s obviously not going to get it done. But the team through different spurts had decent play from running backs before they got injured. Raheem Mostert, out with a high-ankle sprain, averaged nearly six yards per carry in four games before his injury. Jeff Wilson Jr. carried the offense in the encouraging win over the Patriots before spraining his ankle. And as bad as things have been for Jerick McKinnon lately, he still leads the team with six touchdowns. Despite missing their top three backs for the majority of the year, the 49ers are still 10th in rushing yards (while ranking ninth in attempts). They might be able to climb that list if they can get their running backs healthy.
Tight ends: B
George Kittle’s 474 yards over six games pace out to 1,264 over a full 16-game season. Obviously that’s not in the cards for the 2019 All-Pro, but the fact Kittle still leads the 49ers in receiving despite not playing in three games exemplifies the type of season he was having as a pass catcher. He took a leap forward when it came to making contested grabs in traffic, which was evident when he caught all 15 of his targets in the loss to Philadelphia. The other tight ends? They have plenty of room to improve. Jordan Reed made a spectacular catch Sunday in New Orleans while recording five catches for 62 yards. Reed has been good when healthy, but he’s only appeared in five games, and only played in more than 20 snaps twice, including a season-high 31 against the Saints. Ross Dwelley has 10 catches for 144 yards and will likely need to step things up as a pass catcher and blocker down the stretch with Kittle sidelined with a fracture in his foot.
Receivers: C
One of the few positive takeaways from Sunday’s loss was Brandon Aiyuk having a significantly more prolific day than the guy he was brought in to replace, Emmanuel Sanders. Aiyuk had seven catches for 75 yards and his fifth touchdown of the season. Sanders, meanwhile, was targeted once and made the catch for five yards. Aiyuk looks like a star in the making, while the rest of the receiving corps has been lackluster. Deebo Samuel has played in just four games because of his fractured foot from the summer and a hamstring injury last Oct. 25 against the Patriots. Kendrick Bourne has been fine, once again, with 378 yards and 29 catches in nine games. Dante Pettis was released, Trent Taylor has 10 catches in 10 contests and Richie James Jr. has been in and out of the lineup at different points, though his 184-yard performance in the Thursday night game against the Packers was an obvious bright spot. Taylor and James were both responsible for muffed punt returns Sunday that were pivotal in the loss to the Saints. The good news is the same here as it is for other spots on the roster. Eventually, they figure to get healthier and could finally build up a rhythm.
Offensive line: D
Not having starting center Weston Richburg is looking like a bigger loss each passing week. His injury has led to the 49ers having started three difference centers this season, Ben Garland, Hroniss Grasu and, recently, Daniel Brunskill, which has impacted their depth at the guard spots. The 49ers have taken 25 sacks through 10 games, the 10th most in the NFL, which isn’t great given the offense is designed to get the ball out of the quarterback’s hands quickly. The 49ers are not a team with a lot of five-step drops and long-developing pass plays. Trent Williams has been excellent following a rocky start to the season that could be explained by rust. Mike McGlinchey is Pro Football Focus’ 82nd-ranked tackle when it comes to pass protection, while his 20 pressures allowed tie him for 16th most. Laken Tomlinson and Brunskill have both allowed 19 pressures, tying them for eighth most among qualified guards. Suffice to say, an offensive line that pushed around the Vikings and Packers decisively in last year’s playoffs has not been playing at nearly the same level. Blame the pandemic taking away the offseason and the injuries if you life. But it has to get better.
Defensive line: B
No, the 49ers are not pressuring or sacking quarterbacks at nearly the same rate as last season, but the defensive line has performed better than expected given three of the team’s top pass rushers from 2019 — Nick Bosa, DeForest Buckner and Dee Ford — have either been injured or traded. Arik Armstead, who had 10 sacks last year, needs to be more productive. He has just 1.5 sacks this season, though he’s been asked to play more defensive end because of injuries while he’s proven to be better on the inside. First-round pick Javon Kinlaw has shown flashes of promise despite not getting his first sack until Sunday, when he was credited with 1.5. Kerry Hyder has been reliable in a far more expanded role than the team anticipated when it signed him to a lucrative contract, and the defense is allowing just 3.9 yards per carry, the fifth-best mark in the league. Somehow, the 49ers defense ranks fifth in the NFL despite missing all those key defenders along the defensive front. The defensive line hasn’t been spectacular, but it hasn’t been the liability it was expected to be after Bosa and Ford went down, either.
Linebackers: A-
This grade is mostly a reflection of Fred Warner, the team’s unofficial clear MVP through the first 10 games that’s been the glue holding the defense together. Warner is likely to get his first All-Pro recognition this year after asserting himself in the top tier at his position throughout the league. And the 49ers felt good enough about Dre Greenlaw to feel okay about trading Kwon Alexander to the Saints, despite Alexander being a key emotional cog in the huddle and locker room. All those flattering statistics for San Francisco’s defense mentioned earlier have a lot to do with Warner, who’s in charge of reading the offense and getting his teammates in position to make plays. That’s no small feat, considering all the injuries the team has dealt with. If the 49ers finish in the top 10 in defense this season despite all the talent they’ve been missing, Warner will have a great argument to become the highest-paid middle linebacker in the NFL when he’s first eligible for a second contract this offseason.
Cornerbacks: B
The 49ers have allowed 1,458 yards to receivers through 10 games, the 13th-best mark in the NFL. That’s not terrible considering they haven’t had Richard Sherman since Week 1. Jason Verrett has been easily the team’s best story in a dark season. The irony, of course, is Verrett is healthy and playing well in a season destroyed by injuries. Emmanuel Moseley, while not spectacular, has proven to be a starting-caliber player whose presence is missed when he’s not out there (see: the Dolphins game) and Jamar Taylor has done a bang-up job replacing K’Waun Williams despite coming into the season with not-so-high expectations. All things considered, the 49ers cornerbacks have been up to snuff for many games this season. The team’s 92.8 passer rating allowed is good for 12th in the league, which is likely higher than you might have guessed given all the injury issues. That’s also a credit to new secondary coach, Tony Oden, who had the tough task of replacing Joe Woods.
Safeties: B-
Free safety Jimmie Ward hasn’t been quite as effective as last season, but it’s fair to ask if the 49ers’ increased blitz rate is putting more on the plate of the safeties than 2019, when the defensive line featured the best four-man pass rush in the NFL. According to Sharp Football Statistics, the 49ers have allowed 28 explosive plays, with the Dolphins, Seahawks and Packers games likely counting for a disproportionate amount. The numbers of plays is right in the middle of the pack, while the 332 yards on those plays is just outside the top third. It will be interesting to see how things change with Tarvarius Moore joining Ward on the back end now that Jaquiski Tartt is done for the season. Neither Ward nor Tartt have the size of a strong safety, but they should make up for it with range and coverage skills on the back end. And if the trend from Sunday holds true, the 49ers will have the coverage skills at the second level with safety Marcell Harris moving to linebacker. Could the safety play be better? Sure. But like the defense overall, the play at this position has been solid given the circumstances.