Tag: 49ers roster San Francisco 49ers

49ers still contenders, but drop one spot in USA TODAY NFL power rankings

The #49ers dropped in the USA TODAY Sports NFL power rankings, but they’re still very much in the Super Bowl conversation:

The 49ers’ run at the top of the USA TODAY NFL power rankings is over. They dropped one spot to No. 2 behind the Baltimore Ravens after Baltimore whacked the 49ers 33-19 at Levi’s Stadium on Christmas.

It was a dreadful performance for San Francisco where starting quarterback Brock Purdy tossed four interceptions, and backup QB Sam Darnold threw another late in the game. Despite the bad showing though, USA TODAY Sports’ Nate Davis still believes San Francisco can make a Super Bowl run:

Small picture? Not so happy holidays, and QB Brock Purdy likely watched any MVP aspirations go up in smoke. Big picture? Niners should be fine – and getting embarrassed Monday might just trigger a steamroll into Super Bowl 58.

That’s the bigger goal for San Francisco anyway. They want to be there in February playing for the Lombardi Trophy in Las Vegas.

It’s hard to picture that happening given how Monday’s game went, but they’re still an excellent team capable of bouncing back from a bad outing. A couple of wins to end the year to secure the No. 1 seed would wipe away the ugliness of Christmas night and still put the 49ers on track to begin their Super Bowl run in earnest.

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This Brock Purdy TD throw to Brandon Aiyuk is a DIME

This throw from Brock Purdy to put the Seahawks away was awesome.

The 49ers were on their way to a win over the Seahawks midway through the fourth quarter Thursday night. They led 24-13 and were driving. Then Brock Purdy slammed the door.

On a second-and-7, Purdy dropped to throw, flipped his hips, and as pressure closed in he uncorked a beautiful pass to wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk between four Seahawks defenders.

To make it even more impressive, he hit Aiyuk in stride and allowed the receiver to split two Seattle defensive backs to find the end zone.

It was only Aiyuk’s second catch of the night, but the TD put the nail in Seattle’s coffin.

On a night where Purdy wasn’t his best, he stepped up and made an excellent throw in a huge spot and helped put an important division game away.

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Notes and observations from 49ers’ Week 11 win over Buccaneers

Notes and observations from a weird #49ers win over the Buccaneers at Levi’s Stadium.

It wasn’t pretty, but the 49ers handled business at home against the Buccaneers in a 27-14 win.

They went up 27-7 in the second half, but allowed the Bucs to claw back to stay in the game to make things more difficult than they needed to be.

Still, the 49ers did what they needed to do in getting the victory to move to 7-3 on the year and stay atop the NFC West.

Here are our observations from each quarter:

49ers roster moves: DE Drake Jackson placed on IR

The #49ers placed DE Drake Jackson on IR and made some other roster moves:

The 49ers on Saturday announced a handful of roster moves ahead of their Week 10 matchup against the Jaguars.

Not among the handful of changes was the activation of any players off of injured lists. Cornerbacks Darrell Luter and Samuel Womack, and defensive end Robert Beal all had their 21-day practice windows opened to start the week, but none of them were activated for Sunday.

Here are the roster moves San Francisco did make:

NFC West standings: 49ers don’t gain separation from Rams, Seahawks

Good news: the #49ers still lead the NFC West. The bad news: they didn’t pick up any additional distance from the Rams and Seahawks.

The 49ers remained perfect for the season and undefeated in the NFC West with their 35-16 win over the Cardinals on Sunday.

While getting another division win in is important, San Francisco was unable to gain any separation from the Rams or Seahawks behind them in the division.

Los Angeles went to overtime with the Colts and pulled out a 29-23 victory on the road, then Seattle blew out the Giants on Monday Night Football.

Their victories left the NFC West standings looking like this through four weeks:

1. 49ers (4-0)
2. Seahawks (3-1)
3. Rams (2-2)
4. Cardinals (1-3)

San Francisco won’t play another NFC West game until Week 12 when they visit the Seahawks, who have bounced back strong after a rough opening week.

Staying ahead of the pack is a nice change for the 49ers over the last couple years where they’ve had to battle back from an early hole. Now they face a tough stretch of their schedule where their lead atop the division could be in peril.

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Elijah Mitchell playing time normalizes on short week

Christian McCaffrey played a season low in snaps vs. the Giants despite the #49ers offense playing a season high in snaps. Elijah Mitchell was back in the mix Thursday:

Elijah Mitchell’s lack of playing time was a significant talking point after the 49ers’ Week 2 win over the Rams. He wasn’t on the field at all in that game after playing only 10 snaps and notching five carries in Week 1. His playing time saw a dramatic uptick in Week 3 when the 49ers hosted the Giants on Thursday Night Football.

In San Francisco’s 30-12 win over New York Mitchell was on the field for 28 snaps Thursday night and had touches on half of them. He put up 11 carries for 42 yards, and three catches on three targets.

Getting Mitchell on the field for 28 snaps took the onus off RB Christian McCaffrey, who played a season-low 51 snaps despite the 49ers offense playing a season-high 78 snaps. McCaffrey also had a season-low 18 carries with a season-low 21 total touches.

This is likely more along the split the 49ers would like to ride in their backfield where they lean on Mitchell for a couple plays or a series at a time to ensure McCaffrey is staying as fresh as possible for potential late-game needs, and a potential deep playoff run.

For fantasy football players who have McCaffrey, this isn’t time to panic. He’ll still get a lion’s share of the work and in closer games he may see a larger portion of snaps than he saw Thursday. For players with Mitchell, it’s not time to start him just yet. He’ll still be worth a stash, but his workload is still going to vary week-to-week.

Whether they can adhere to Thursday night’s snap split will be determined by game script each week, but it gave us a glimpse of what an ideal backfield split looks like for San Francisco.

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It appears Javon Kinlaw breakout season is here

The Javon Kinlaw breakout season the #49ers have been hoping for might be here.

The 49ers defensive line did what it was supposed to do against a banged up, porous offensive line. They applied pressure on quarterback Daniel Jones 23 times, led by defensive end Nick Bosa and defensive tackle Javon Hargrave. A surprise name popped up among their leaders in pressures though.

2020 first-round pick DL Javon Kinlaw posted four pressures Thursday night to finish ahead of both DT Arik Armstead and DE Drake Jackson. It was the second time in as many games that Kinlaw has posted four pressures according to Pro Football Focus.

Kinlaw is now up to 10 pressures in three games this season. That’s as many as he had in 10 games over the last two seasons combined. PFF has also issued overall grades of 83.8 and 78.1 for him – his two highest single-game grades since his rookie season.

It’s becoming clear why the 49ers were so adamant about getting Kinlaw healthy and on the field. Just being healthy through this preseason has obviously benefitted him, and now he’s starting to play consistently and the production is following.

Surely playing alongside players like Hargrave and Armstead have helped. Kinlaw’s individual talent is shining through though and the breakout year the 49ers have been hoping for appears to have arrived.

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2024 mock draft highlights 49ers potential free agent exits

This Sports Illustrated mock draft highlights how the next couple drafts will be essential for extending the #49ers’ Super Bowl window.

A new mock draft from Sports Illustrated offers a little bit of interesting perspective on how important the next couple of drafts will be for San Francisco.

Luke Easterling, a draft analyst for SI, published a mock draft that has San Francisco taking Minnesota safety Tyler Nubin with the 31st pick in next year’s draft.

Nubin is a terrific playmaker who has 10 interceptions over the last four seasons. He has the size to line up at strong safety with the coverage skills to move to the slot and athleticism to play a deep safety role. Versatility has been key for the 49ers’ safeties over the last few years, which is part of why they traded up for Penn State’s Ji’Ayir Brown in Round 3 of this year’s draft. A lineup of Brown alongside Nubin would give San Francisco a ton of athleticism and versatility in the back end of its secondary.

The question about how much the 49ers actually need a safety is certainly worth asking. Strong safety Talanoa Hufanga is only 23 and just began his third season. Brown is also a rookie who the team loves and invested pretty significantly in.

Hufanga’s status as a long-term option for the 49ers is up in the air though given how expensive their roster is due to become. They’ll need to be prudent about where they’re dolling out their free agent dollars. If Hufanga, a First-Team All-Pro in 2022, continues the trajectory his career is on he’ll become a highly-coveted free agent when his rookie contract ends after the 2024 season.

San Francisco simply may not be able to afford him at that point given some of their other contractual commitments, so adding a safety via the first round of this year’s draft would make sense if there isn’t an offensive tackle or defensive end they’re enamored with.

This is why hitting on draft picks is going to be crucial for the 49ers to extend their Super Bowl window. As their current core ages and some of their other contributors like Hufanga, linebacker Dre Greenlaw and potentially left guard Aaron Banks all depart for big money in free agency San Francisco will need to replenish their roster with relatively inexpensive talent. Replacing Hufanga with Nubin is a perfect example of how this may play out over the next couple of offseasons.

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5 49ers in NFL Wire’s top 50 most dominant NFL players

The 49ers make up 16.7% of the top 30 in the NFL Wire’s list of the most dominant players in the league:

The 49ers’ ability to overcome their lack of consistently high-quality quarterback play over the last four seasons is due in part to the spate of elite players on their roster.

While the most important position on the field has been tough to nail down, San Francisco has continued to churn out a Super Bowl caliber roster that’s spearheaded by some of the game’s best players.

A recent list of the 50 most dominant players in the NFL going into 2023 highlights just how good the 49ers’ roster is. They have five players on the list, with all five landing inside the top 30.

Making up 16.7 percent of the 30 best players in the league is a good way for a team to find itself in championship contention year in and year out.

Here are the five 49ers on the list and where they ranked:

Rejoice! WR DeAndre Hopkins is gone from NFC West

The 49ers no longer have to deal with DeAndre Hopkins twice per year!

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The Arizona Cardinals on Friday released veteran wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins, making the 49ers’ path forward in the NFC West just a little bit easier.

Not that the Cardinals are supposed to be a formidable threat in the division this year. Their over/under win total prior to Hopkins’ release twas sitting at 5.5 wins.

Hopkins though has had his way with the 49ers in his career. He had one game with 11 catches for 149 yards and two touchdowns, and another where he hauled in 14 balls for 151 yards. He had another game with 87 yards and a touchdown on six catches.  Even last season in Mexico City with Colt McCoy under center he put up nine catches for 91 yards in a 38-10 49ers blowout victory.

In total he has 50 catches on 69 targets for 549 yards and three touchdowns in six games against San Francisco. Those numbers add. up to 142 catches for 1,556 yards and nine touchdowns over a 17-game season.

San Francisco could still face Hopkins this year depending on where he signs, but they’ll likely be done facing him twice per year moving forward. That’s a small offseason victory worth celebrating.

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