Tag: 49ers defense

Deommodore Lenoir contract may signal philosophy shift for 49ers

The San Francisco 49ers are building their defense a little differently than they have in the past.

The San Francisco 49ers may be changing the way they build their roster on the defensive side of the football.

They agreed to a five-year, $92 million contract extension with cornerback Deommodore Lenoir which was first reported Tuesday afternoon. It looked going into the season like the team’s various financial commitments may force them to let Lenoir walk in free agency. Veteran Charvarius Ward is playing the best football of his career and is also due to hit the free agent market following the 2024 campaign.

It wouldn’t have been a surprise had the 49ers opted to let Lenoir go. They’ve not prioritized the secondary during the John Lynch-Kyle Shanahan era, preferring instead to focus their resources on building out a strong pass rush.

Their defensive fronts have been disappointing the last couple of years, and in 2023 they were forced to make two mid-season trades to find pass rush help. Instead, their secondary shined during their run to the Super Bowl where they met a Kansas City Chiefs defense that was loaded with high-quality defensive backs.

It may be that the 49ers are undergoing a philosophical change on defense where they’re investing more in the secondary and perhaps trying to build out a deeper defensive front that has effective players alongside superstar defensive end Nick Bosa.

Replacing players like Dee Ford, DeForest Buckner and Arik Armstead hasn’t been easy, and finding players of that caliber like they did in 2019 may not be something they’re capable of doing given their financial commitments and lack of high draft picks.

The Lenoir contract isn’t the only signal of a potential shift. The team also spent a second-round pick on Florida State CB Renardo Green in this year’s draft. It’s the earliest they’ve ever drafted a cornerback in the Lynch-Shanahan era, and Green has been terrific stepping into the nickel CB role as a rookie. While the 49ers added Leonard Floyd, Yetur Gross-Matos and Jordan Elliott in free agency, none of those players broke the bank. Even Maliek Collins was acquired with a seventh-round pick. The team prioritized depth on the defensive front while investing significant resources in the secondary in this year’s draft with Green and fourth-round pick Malik Mustapha. They also traded up for safety Ji’Ayir Brown in the third round of the 2023 draft where they didn’t pick until Round 3.

Perhaps this is just a function of the available talent and the 49ers will go back to their defensive line-first philosophy down the road, but for now the front-to-back defense we’ve come to know in San Francisco may become a back-to-front defense where the secondary is the star.

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How 49ers adjusted defensive scheme after loss of star DL

An interesting defensive adjustment helped the 49ers win on Sunday.

It seemed inevitable the San Francisco 49ers were going to need to try something different schematically given how the first three weeks went.

The 49ers in those games were dreadful on third downs and allowing the third-most yards per play in the NFL. It was a far cry from the dominant efforts we’ve grown accustomed to seeing from San Francisco’s defenses.

Head coach Kyle Shanahan indicated some schematic changes may be necessary, especially once defensive tackle Javon Hargrave went down and dramatically altered the strength of the 49ers’ pass rush on the defensive front.

One of those schematic changes popped up in Sunday’s win over the Patriots when the 49ers started blitzing heavily.

Per ESPN Research, the 49ers blitzed on only 14 percent of opposing quarterback dropbacks through the first three weeks. That number skyrocketed to 33 percent against the Patriots and quarterback Jacoby Brissett on Sunday.

In an ideal world the 49ers won’t need to throw as many blitzes at a QB to get pressure on them. However, the NFL is about adapting and San Francisco’s personnel dictates something has to be done differently with its defense.

Perhaps the blitzing sticks and they become a more blitz-heavy team. Perhaps they do something a little different each week where we see new wrinkles to the way they attack opposing offenses.

Whatever they did Sunday worked like a charm, though. The Patriots went at a paltry 3.5 yards per play and their lone touchdown came off a 49ers fumble that placed them at San Francisco’s 27 to start the drive.

So far, so good on the schematic adjustments on defense. Now they need to find the right button to push against a much better Arizona Cardinals offense in Week 5.

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Kyle Shanahan hints at potential schematic shakeup for 49ers defense

Could the 49ers’ personnel force them to make big-time schematic changes on defense?

There may be significant change coming for the San Francisco 49ers’ struggling defense.

Since Week 2 we’ve seen the 49ers mix up their personnel to try and help that unit. Rookie defensive backs Malik Mustapha and Renardo Green have gotten some run. Second-year linebacker Dee Winters saw time in De’Vondre Campbell’s Will LB spot in Week 3 before exiting with an ankle injury.

Now a bigger alteration could be on the horizon following defensive tackle Javon Hargrave’s injury. His absence leaves a sizable hole in an already thin defensive line, and the 49ers may not have the personnel to make up for his absence in the current iteration of their defense.

Head coach Kyle Shanahan on Wednesday in a press conference indicated Hargrave’s season-ending triceps tear may act as a catalyst for some scheme changes.

“I thought our D-Line last week affected the quarterback the most that they had in their three games,” Shanahan said. “I thought that they had one of their better games. But it’s a huge loss, losing Javon. Guys are going to have to step it up and when you don’t have the rush, then you’ve got to turn to other things schematically.”

The number of players the 49ers can realistically rely on to ‘step up’ in Hargrave’s absence is small. Defensive end Nick Bosa will need to look more like a Defensive Player of the Year. DE Leonard Floyd will need to look more like he has the past four seasons. The entire defensive tackle rotation will need to be better. It’s going to be a group effort, but it’s hard to imagine the 49ers are going to affect the quarterback at the rate their current scheme requires.

Perhaps the club experiments some with a 3-4 defensive front. That’s something assistant head coach Brandon Staley has done during his career as a defensive coordinator and head coach.

They may have to alter things in the secondary as well changing when and how much they run zone coverages vs. man coverages.

Whatever it winds up being, all the possibilities have to be on the table for the 49ers. They weren’t playing championship-level defense to start the year even with Hargrave in the mix. Now they have to figure out how to do it without him, and that just might require San Francisco to make big changes in how its defense operates.

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49ers need more from biggest offseason free agent signing

The spotlight is officially on the #49ers’ biggest offseason addition.

The San Francisco 49ers had a glaring problem on defense. That problem was exacerbated Sunday when star defensive tackle Javon Hargrave suffered a partially torn triceps that will require season-ending surgery.

Rushing the passer is something the 49ers have established as a foundation of their defensive success. It’s why they spent the No. 2 overall pick on defensive end Nick Bosa in 2019, and it’s why they’ve utilized a bevy of resources along the defensive line throughout the tenures of head coach Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch.

That part of their defense is off to a slow start in 2024, and now improvement is a steep uphill climb without Hargrave.

One way they can improve is by simply getting more out of defensive end Leonard Floyd who signed a two-year, $20 million contract with $12 million guaranteed this offseason.

Floyd had a sack and four pressures in Week 1 according to Pro Football Focus. He’s been silent since then. PFF has him down for just one pressure, no sacks and no quarterback hits over the last two games.

That’s not going to cut it for a player some deemed as the best edge rusher the 49ers have had opposite Bosa.

While Floyd has gotten off to a slow start, there’s reason for optimism that he’ll bounce back. Throughout his career there are a slew of two and three game stretches where he’ll be ostensibly absent from the pass rush before breaking out with big numbers.

The problem for the 49ers is they can’t afford for Floyd to go missing. They’re relying heavily on him to provide pressure off the edge across from Bosa. That reliance only increases with Hargrave’s injury.

A consistently good Floyd who is racking up 9.5 or 10.0 sacks would be a tremendous boost for the 49ers’ struggling defense. The sooner he breaks out of his slump and turns into that player, the better.

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Big problem brewing at one of 49ers most important position groups

The 49ers have a problem at a key position.

The San Francisco 49ers might have a problem in one of their key position groups.

During the John Lynch-Kyle Shanahan tenure, the 49ers have built their defense from front to back. That means they’ve prioritized a stout defensive front that gets after the quarterback. Everything else with their defense falls into place after that.

While the club has improved in the secondary and frequently rolls out the best linebacker duo in the NFL, their defensive line is in a tough spot heading into the second week of the preseason.

Depth has been one of the calling cards for their good defensive lines. They’re not only a top-heavy group with players like Nick Bosa and Javon Hargrave, but they’ve consistently had good depth behind their starting units.

Last season their depth struggled. They made two in-season trades for defensive ends and never found enough quality to go behind Hargrave and his fellow defensive tackle Arik Armstead. As a result, the 49ers pass rush wasn’t as impactful as we’re used to seeing and their run defense faltered down the stretch.

This offseason they shuffled things up.

Armstead was released. In his place the 49ers added free agent DT Jordan Elliott, and traded for former Houston Texans DT Maliek Collins.

At defensive end Randy Gregory and Chase Young both left in free agency, clearing the way for free agent additions Leonard Floyd and Yetur Gross-Matos.

A starting group of Floyd, Bosa, Hargrave and Collins is solid. Gross-Matos is a versatile reserve, and Elliott is putting together a nice camp. Former undrafted free agent Kevin Givens also figures to be in the rotation.

Outside of that, things are dicey for the 49ers. They have enough bodies at defensive tackle that they should be able to find a good rotation, even after a knee injury that will sideline DT Kalia Davis for half the season. Defensive end is a different story.

Drake Jackson was supposed to be a key role player, but his season is already over due to his ongoing recovery from offseason surgery. Second-year DE Robert Beal Jr. should have plenty of opportunities after playing in just four games as a rookie. He played 51 total snaps in the 49ers’ preseason opener against the Tennessee Titans and had a couple of run stops, but he didn’t post a pressure in 24 pass rushing snaps according to Pro Football Focus.

The only DE that did post a pressure for the 49ers against the Titans was veteran Alex Barrett who has been a practice squad staple the last four years. Barrett doesn’t figure to be in the team’s plans beyond internal depth.

Recently-signed DE Jonathan Garvin had an okay game after not getting much time to practice. Garvin was a seventh-round pick of the Green Bay Packers in 2020. He had 1.5 sacks in 38 games with the Packers before his release in 2023. His track record doesn’t indicate he’ll be a major factor for the 49ers this year.

This is a vital group for the 49ers and they don’t have a ton of depth to withstand either a subpar showing or an injury. Their margin for error is razor thin at a position they’ve prioritized consistently during the Lynch-Shanahan era. Don’t be surprised if there’s a trade in the works either before the season or during the season to improve that unit.

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TD Wire: 49ers have 2 of NFL’s top 10 press cornerbacks

Press coverage is the 49ers’ bag now, and they have two of the NFL’s best press corners:

The 49ers are a defense constructed to dominate up front. Their MO since John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan arrived has been to build a ferocious pass rush that disrupts quarterbacks and makes life easier on the secondary. In that instance the bar for cornerback play was lowered. However, in the last couple years the 49ers have seen an ascension from their CBs that has their secondary in a spot to be extremely effective in 2024. In fact, two of their CBs ranked in the top 10 in Touchdown Wire’s rankings of the best press cornerbacks in football.

Charvarius Ward was No. 8 on TD Wire’s list. Deommodore Lenoir landed at No. 9 on the list following his best season as a pro.

Author Doug Farrar had some impressive numbers for Ward in press:

Last season for the NFC champs, Ward was in press on 231 of his 1,172 snaps, ranking 10th in the NFL. And when targeted in press, Ward allowed 14 catches on 34 reps for 6.0 yards per reception, three explosive plays, one touchdown, and two interceptions.

Like all the NFL’s best press cornerbacks, Ward combines physical dominance at the line of scrimmage with excellent transition skills, and the ability to stay in a receiver’s hip pocket throughout the play.

Ward used his press skills to notch his first All-Pro nod after last season while leading the 49ers with five interceptions and leading the NFL with 23 pass breakups.

Lenoir didn’t enter last season as a surefire starter for San Francisco, but his play over the course of the year was evidence of his growth as a versatile inside/outside CB. Via Farrar:

As for Lenoir, he perfectly complemented Ward both outside and in the slot with 257 press reps in his 1,222 snaps. When in press, Lenoir allowed 17 catches on 39 targets for 7.9 yards per catch, four explosive plays, one touchdown, and two interceptions. Like Ward, Lenoir is a bigger cornerback (5-foot-10, 200 pounds) with the transition skills needed to match and carry every kind of receiver.

It’s clear adding quality press coverage CBs is a priority for San Francisco. They signed Ward in 2022 after he led the NFL in press snaps for three consecutive seasons. Press is also something second-round draft pick Renardo Green thrived at in college at Florida State.

Adapting has been something the 49ers have done well on the offensive side, and now it appears they’re shifting their focus on the other side of the ball as well.

Last year San Francisco’s pass rush struggled to consistently get home and impact opposing quarterbacks. If they can improve there in 2024, combined with the amount of press played by 49ers CBs, we could see a significant uptick in takeaways in the secondary and a jump back to the No. 1 defensive spot for San Francisco.[anyclip-media thumbnail=”undefined” playlistId=”undefined” content=”dW5kZWZpbmVk”][/anyclip-media]

How Steve Wilks’ 49ers defense can put a lid on Patrick Mahomes

If the 49ers are going to put a lid on Patrick Mahomes in Super Bowl LVIII, defensive coordinator Steve Wilks will have to open his entire playbook.

The Kansas City Chiefs are back in the Super Bowl — for the fourth time in the last five seasons — and Patrick Mahomes is getting hot at exactly the right time. Mahomes’ 2023 regular season, affected as it was by some iffy receivers and a questionable playbook at times, was underwhelming. But in his two playoff games, Mahomes has completed 47 of 62 passes (75.8% completion rate) for 456 yards (7.4 yards per attempt), three touchdowns, no interceptions, and a passer rating of 112.0.

If the San Francisco 49ers are to avenge their 31-20 loss to the Chiefs in  Super Bowl LIV four years ago, they’ll have to do as much as possible to contain Mahomes both as a passer and as a second-reaction runner. Defensive coordinator Steve Wilks is well aware.

“Well, it is definitely a challenge,” Wilks said Friday of the Mahomes Factor.  “Not only him, you look at [Travis] Kelce, you talk about two first-ballot Hall of Famers there. We definitely have to prepare and be ready. It’s different things that we have to do. Number one, he’s doing a tremendous job, really extended plays. We talked all week. It’s two plays within one down. When the ball snaps and then once he starts to scramble. So he’s phenomenal. The best I’ve ever seen for just buying time, winning with his feet, and getting the ball where it needs to go down the field.

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“They do ad-lib and they do a great job of it. But we still have to have a great plan. We’ve still got to execute and finish. When they start to ad-lib we’ve got to do a great job of really plastering the man within our zone and really straining to make sure we finish the rep.”

Putting a lid on Patrick Mahomes when he’s on is one of the toughest things to do in sports, but the 49ers under Wilks do have some concepts that they execute very well, which could get them started down the right path. Some are obvious, and some seem quite counterintuitive, but here’s what the 49ers have done this season, and what Mahomes would prefer they not do, that could make a serious difference in Super Bowl LVIII.

Ravens, 49ers have the advantage of defenses that can do anything… and everything

The Ravens and 49ers are the one-seeds in the playoffs, and they both have defenses without specific tendencies. That’s not a coincidence.

It’s probably not a coincidence that the Baltimore Ravens and the San Francisco 49ers — the two one-seeds in the 2023 NFL playoffs — have defenses without a specific coverage type. In today’s NFL, with more formational and schematic concepts on offense, if you go out on the field without some things to mess up the opposing quarterback with different things, you’re left with an execution-based defense, and there’s very little margin for error if that’s the case.

The Cleveland Browns discovered that in their wild-card loss to the Houston Texans. In that 45-14 Houston win, the Browns stuck with their usual plan, to their direct detriment. C.J. Stroud had demolished single-high coverage all season long, and the Browns had run a higher rate of single-high in the regular season than any other defense. Cleveland decided to stay there in this game, and Stroud completed 12 of 16 passes for both of his touchdowns. On none of those 16 attempts did the Browns throw any kind of late movement at Stroud. It was line ’em up, and let’s go.

Browns’ refusal to adapt on defense cost them dearly against C.J. Stroud

When the Texans face the Baltimore Ravens on Saturday in the divisional round, Stroud will be tested in ways he certainly wasn’t last week. The Ravens do not have a specific coverage type. This season, they’ve run single-high coverage on 46.4% of their snaps, and two-high on 53.3% of their snaps. It’s been Cover-3, Cover-4, Cover-1, and Cover-6 in that order. You don’t know what you’re going to get from snap to snap, they do all of it well, and they’re very adept with coverage switches. 

The Ravens have made it very clear that the Stroud they’re dealing with now is a much more evolved than the Stroud that tried to navigate it all in his regular-season debut. The best way to counter that evolution is to make Stroud work through different coverage concepts. Mike Macdonald’s defense has no problem with that.

The Ravens know they’re dealing with a different C.J. Stroud this time around

On this deep incompletion against the Ravens in Week 1, Stroud had to manage a couple of things. First, Baltimore threw a six-man blitz at him with defensive back Kyle Hamilton off the edge, edge defender Odafe Oweh dropping into coverage, and linebacker Roquan Smith coming from the second level. And pre-snap, the Ravens showed a defined single-high look before moving to Cover-2. Brandon Stephens joined safety Marcus Williams as the second two-high defender. The combination of pressure and coverage must have made Stroud feel as if he had 13 or 14 defenders arrayed against him, and a near-interception was the result.

The 49ers, who play the Green Bay Packers on Sunday, are another amorphous coverage defense.They’ve played 50% single-high this season, and two-high 50% of the time. It’s Cover-3, Cover-4, Cover-1, and Cover-2 in that order. The 49ers flip to a bit more single-high on third down, but as is the case with the Ravens, they play what works for them and they don’t change a lot from a systemic point in a situational sense. 

Packers quarterback Jordan Love has been as good as anybody playing his position in the second half of the season, but even the best quarterbacks can be made uncomfortable when faced with the right concepts in concert. In Week 2 against the Los Angeles Rams and Matthew Stafford, the 49ers got an interception by disguising their intentions. Stafford is a 15-year NFL veteran with as developed a sense of what defenses will do as any quarterback you’ll ever meet, but here, Steve Wilks’ defense won the day.

Stafford would have 2-Man coverage to deal with post-snap, but that wasn’t the look pre-snap. With a single-high safety, and linebacker Fred Warner and Dre Greenlaw close to the line of scrimmage, Stafford probably thought he’d have something easy over the middle of the field. This was a four-man rush in which the 49ers plastered Stafford’s receivers all over the field, and cornerback Deommodore Lenoir jumped Stafford’s backside slant for the pick.

No matter the quarterback you’re facing, you have a better chance of beating him if your defense is creative enough to throw as many different looks at him as possible, with the discipline to have everyone together on their assignments. The Ravens and 49ers each have this on lock, and again, it’s probably not a coincidence that the two best overall teams in the Final Eight can say that about themselves.

In this week’s “Xs and Os with Greg Cosell and Doug Farrar,” the guys get into both defenses, and how they’re able to switch things up at such a high level.

You can watch this week’s episode of “The Xs and Os,” featuring all the most important matchups of the divisional round, right here:

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You can also listen and subscribe to “The Xs and Os” podcast on Spotify…

…and on Apple Podcasts.

49ers giving up explosive plays at historically low rate

The #49ers defense is so hard to move the ball against, particularly with explosive plays.

One of the hallmarks of the 49ers defense is their ability to limit explosive plays. They do that via a stout run defense, a strong pass rush and disciplined coverage that forces quarterbacks to take short throws where a fast, instinctual group in the second level can rally to the ball and tackle.

While explosive plays were a small problem for this group last season, they’ve shut the faucet off under new defensive coordinator Steve Wilks.

Nate Tice of the Athletic tweeted out a remarkable stat about San Francisco’s explosive plays allowed, where an “explosive” is defined as a run of 12-plus yards and a pass of 16-plus yards. The 49ers have allowed such plays on only 4.76 percent of their snaps – a low through four weeks since the league went to 32 teams in 2002.

It’s worth noting that the 49ers haven’t played many explosive offenses. The Steelers, Giants and Cardinals have all had their struggles on that side of the ball, while the Rams are working without their best wide receiver.

Still, even in blowouts they’ve not lost focus and surrendered many big plays. It’s also their ability to limit those big plays that they’ve never really gotten a scare in four games.

So, when have teams managed to actually rip off a big play against San Francisco’s defense? We dug through the play-by-play of each game to come up with all the instances of teams gaining 12-plus yards on a run or 16-plus yards on a pass vs. the 49ers this season:

NFC Championship: How the Eagles can challenge the 49ers’ defense with the run game

The Eagles’ run game against the 49ers’ defense? That’ll be a pivotal matchup in the NFC Championship game. Laurie Fitzpatrick has the tape.

The Philadelphia Eagles’ offense and the San Francisco 49ers’ defense will be an incredible matchup of physics.

P = F*v (Power equals Force times velocity)

The Eagles’ offense is pass-first, but there are a ton of run-pass options in there. The threat of the run-option is what can freeze a defense, and that half-second hesitation can make or break a play. That frozen moment in time is when the play is decided.

The Eagles’ offense thrives off a defense’s split-second decisions, and the 49ers defense rarely hesitate to give up big plays.

Let’s go to the film and diagnose how the Eagles will use their backfield against the 49ers’ dominant run defense.