Tag: 49ers

What to make of Christian McCaffrey’s absence from 49ers practice

Christian McCaffrey wasn’t in practice Wednesday, but there’s no real cause for concern.

San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey sat out the team’s practice Wednesday in the lead up to a Week 12 showdown with the Green Bay Packers.

This is a slight departure from McCaffrey’s routine during his first two weeks back with the club after a nine-week absence due to Achilles tendinitis. During those first two weeks he was a limited participant in practice Wednesday and Thursday before getting a full practice in Friday.

Wednesday of Week 12 was a little different. The 49ers listed McCaffrey as a non-participant. His Achilles injury is still listed, but they also specified that his absence was for rest and was not injury related.

It makes sense that the team would rest McCaffrey given his workload in a Week 11 loss to the Seattle Seahawks. He played 59 snaps and notched 19 carries along with four receptions. The 23 touches were four more than his 19 the week prior.

Head coach Kyle Shanahan indicated the team plans to continue utilizing McCaffrey as much as possible in games, so an additional day off during the week would behoove a team trying to manage an Achilles issue for its superstar running back.

Chances are McCaffrey is back Thursday and ready to suit up Sunday against the Green Bay Packers.

If he isn’t back Thursday, there may be a bigger issue. For now, his absence is simply a rest day.

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49ers biggest cause for concern vs. Packers is familiar flaw in 2024

The Packers biggest strength this year is one of the 49ers biggest weaknesses.

Finding one clear issue with the San Francisco 49ers this season is nigh impossible. They’ve been plagued by a slew of problems throughout their 5-5 start.

All of those shortcomings have culminated one overarching flaw: the 49ers can’t close games.

They’ve had fourth quarter leads in three of their five defeats, and four of their five losses have been by one score. Their inability to finish games could rear its head again Sunday in a crucial matchup with the Green Bay Packers.

Head coach Kyle Shanahan on Wednesday in a press conference was asked about Brock Purdy’s up-and-down season, and used it as an opportunity to identify why the team’s inability to close teams out could be a problem in Green Bay.

“And to me that’s come all the way down to how we finish games,” Shanahan said. “And we’ve had four games here that have come down to the last two possessions and we’ve only won one of those. And that’s the difference between eight-and-two and five-and-five with the one we won being Tampa. In contrast, you look at a team like Green Bay, they’ve had seven games come down to the last possession and they’ve won six of them, with the only one they lost being the opening game versus Philly. And that’s why they have such a good record.”

The only Packers games to not be decided by one score this year were a 30-14 blowout win over the Tennessee Titans, a 34-13 win over the Arizona Cardinals, and a 24-14 loss to the Detroit Lions.

Their close wins involved blocking a Chicago Bears field goal last week and getting a walk-off field goals vs. the Jacksonville Jaguars and Houston Texans the two weeks prior. Their 24-19 win against the Los Angeles Rams saw their defense hold late after LA got down inside the Packers 40.

Their penchant for winning close games has helped them hold the No. 6 seed in the NFC, two games ahead of San Francisco.

If the 49ers can figure out a way to get and hold a late lead against Green Bay on Sunday it would go a long way toward helping them get back on the path to a playoff berth. The problem is they’ve yet to show that ability this season, and failing to do so again Sunday could put them well outside the playoff picture with only six games to go.

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49ers breakout offensive star quickly became an afterthought

Don’t expect Jordan Mason to be involved more in the offense any time soon.

The San Francisco 49ers appear to be falling into a pattern where they’re leaving good players on the sideline since running back Christian McCaffrey returned.

In McCaffrey’s absence, RB Jordan Mason posted 685 rushing yards and three rushing touchdowns on 134 carries. Over that eight-game stretch he averaged 5.11 yards per rush, which is tied for the seventh-best mark in the NFL. He ran for more than 100 yards thrice, and the only time he ran for fewer than 58 yards was the Week 8 game vs. the Dallas Cowboys where he exited with an injury after only six carries.

Now that McCaffrey has returned, Mason has reverted to being an offensive afterthought. In the two games with McCaffrey in the lineup Mason has played only five snaps and received three carries for 18 yards.

It appeared through eight weeks that Mason had proven to be enough of a weapon that the 49ers could lean on him more once McCaffrey returned. Mason could not only spell McCaffrey to help manage his Achilles injury, but he could offer some explosive play potential with a different running style than the starter.

Head coach Kyle Shanahan doesn’t appear to be planning on adding more to Mason’s workload any time soon.

“Yeah, I like all those guys playing,” Shanahan said. “But it depends on the situation, depends how many times you’re getting the ball, it depends on the drives, it depends if we’re going to put two backs out there. When you do two backs, then you’ve got to take either a big off or another receiver. But I’m not always thinking of how to get Christian off.”

There’s potential for Shanahan to operate with McCaffrey and Mason (or rookie fourth-round pick Isaac Guerendo) on the field together, and he acknowledged as much in Wednesday’s press conference. However, he didn’t sound eager to make that personnel grouping part of the offense.

Instead we’ll likely see more of what we saw a season ago. When McCaffrey is healthy, he’s going to be on the field and the 49ers are going to rely on him to be their go-to playmaker. That appears to be the case no matter what kind of wrinkle another RB on the sideline might be able to add to the offense.

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What to know from Packers’ first injury report of Week 12 vs. 49ers

Things to know from the Packers’ first injury report before playing the 49ers in Week 12.

The Green Bay Packers released the team’s first injury report of Week 12 on Wednesday. The team will release two more injury reports, including a final injury report on Friday with official playing status designations before Sunday’s showdown with the San Francisco 49ers.

Here’s everything to know from the Packers’ first injury report of Week 12:

Who didn’t participate?

Only cornerback Jaire Alexander, who exited Sunday’s win over the Bears with a lingering knee injury. Coach Matt LaFleur said the Packers would give Alexander the week to see if he can get physically ready to play, but exiting Sunday and not participating Wednesday isn’t a good sign for his potential availability this week. Rookie running back MarShawn Lloyd did not participate Wednesday, but he was placed on the non-football illness list after needing an appendectomy.

Who returned to practice?

Defensive lineman Colby Wooden, who missed last week’s win with a shoulder injury, returned to practice in a limited capacity.

How is Jordan Love?

Officially healed. The Packers are no longer listing Love on the injury report. He practiced fully last week and looked more mobile and healthier overall in the win over the Bears.

Any new injuries to know?

Linebacker Edgerrin Cooper was limited Wednesday with a new hamstring injury, while running back Josh Jacobs added a calf injury and was also limited.

Who is still limited with injuries?

Jacobs (quad), defensive lineman Kenny Clark (toe), center Josh Myers (wrist), left tackle Rasheed Walker (knee) and safety Evan Williams (hamstring) were all limited on Wednesday with previous injuries. All five players played through the issues against the Bears last Sunday.

Who is no longer on the injury report?

Edge rusher Kingsley Enagbare is no longer listed. He had an elbow injury last week but practiced fully and had no restrictions against the Bears. Love was also removed, as noted above.

What’s to know from 49ers injury report?

The 49ers listed five players as non-participants on Wednesday, including defensive end Nick Bosa, who has hip and oblique injuries. That’s the one to watch for Packers fans. Bosa is a game-wrecker. Running back Christian McCaffrey got rest and left tackle Trent Williams didn’t practice with an ankle injury. Tight end George Kittle returned to practice in a limited capacity after missing last week with a hamstring injury — he’s convinced he’ll play Sunday. Quarterback Brock Purdy was limited with right shoulder soreness.

49ers to add familiar face at DE to practice squad per NFL insider

The 49ers are unsurprisingly adding some internal depth at DE.

The San Francisco 49ers are making a move to improve their defensive end depth.

NFL Media’s Tom Pelissero on Wednesday reported Jonathan Garvin is returning to San Francisco’s practice squad for the third time this season. He was released on Sept. 11 and re-signed to the practice squad in early October. He was released again in late October.

Now he’ll return to the 49ers’ 16-man practice roster. That group is full for San Francisco so there will be a corresponding move, but it’s unclear which player the 49ers will let go to make room for Garvin.

Adding internal depth at DE makes sense given San Francisco’s issues rushing the passer and a recent hip/oblique injury to DE Nick Bosa. Without Bosa the 49ers have leaned on Leonard Floyd, Yetur Gross-Matos, Sam Okuayinonu and Robert Beal. That group struggled late in the 49ers’ Week 11 loss to the Seattle Seahawks so the team may just be looking to add another body who can be added to the rotation if Bosa winds up missing time.

There’s no guarantee Bosa will be out for Week 12. Head coach Kyle Shanahan on Monday said there’s a chance the one-time Defensive Player of the Year will be able to suit up. If he can’t go, we may see Garvin up with the active roster for the first time this season.

Garvin has played in 38 games with one start across three seasons as a pro. He has 32 tackles and 1.5 sacks in the regular season. He posted three pressures and one quarterback hit in three preseason games for San Francisco this season.

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49ers found new way to lose in Week 11 vs. Seahawks

Good news: Special teams didn’t lose the 49ers a game on Sunday. Bad news: They have a new thing that did lose them the game.

Perhaps the most frustrating aspect of the San Francisco 49ers 2024 season is that all five of their losses seem to come down to something different.

There’s not one discernible thing they have to fix, but rather a smattering of issues that vary each week in how much damage they inflict on the club’s chances to get a victory.

In a damaging Week 11 loss to the Seattle Seahawks, it appeared the offense was a major problem. That unit turned the ball over once and averaged only 4.9 yards per play in their least efficient outing of the year. They were also unable to hold onto the football for 3:56 at the end of the game, giving Seattle a chance to win.

Despite the offensive struggles, head coach Kyle Shanahan wasn’t necessarily displeased with the play from that unit in their latest loss. Instead, he pointed to penalties as the reason for their season-low output.

“Yeah, that was a huge thing. I thought that was one of the biggest problems for the offense on the day,” Shanahan said of the penalties. “And I actually thought we played a better game offensively than we did on that Thursday night game. We didn’t get, you know, on that Thursday night game we got the busted coverage on [WR] Deebo’s [Samuel] 70-yarder and we got those two explosive runs which really helped. But we played better football this game. We just didn’t at all with the penalties and you know, we had one 14-play drive where, I don’t know how many 14-play drives that I’ve been a part of that don’t end with points or a missed field goal or turnover. To go 14 plays and then punt it, we had eight plays inside the 50 after that turnover for the field goal having to overcome it a couple times and get them again. So, that was our biggest problem on the day I felt offensively.”

The 49ers had one drive just before the first half where they had a second-and-3 turn into a second-and-8 because of a false start. Two plays later on a third-and-1 they had a five-yard carry called back because of a hold, putting San Francisco into a third-and-10.

They overcame those penalties to get a first-and-10 at Seattle’s 34 after the two-minute warning. Another false start pushed them to a first-and-15, and then quarterback Brock Purdy took a sack that knocked them out of field goal range. Two incompletions later they punted. Instead of going ahead 10-6 or 14-6 before halftime, the 49ers led 7-6.

In the second half the 49ers defense came up with an interception that set the offense up at Seattle’s 27. They eventually got to first-and-10 at the Seahawks 16. An eight-yard scramble by Brock Purdy on that down was called back for a hold, giving the 49ers a first-and-20 at Seattle’s 26. Running back Christian McCaffrey immediately got the 49ers back inside the 15 with a 14-yard run, but that was negated by an illegal formation flag.

San Francisco went from first-and-10 at the Seattle 16 to first-and-25 at the Seattle 31. They settled for a field goal on that series and instead of leading 14-6, led 10-6 and allowed the next Seattle touchdown to give them a lead.

The good news is it wasn’t special teams that killed the 49ers this time. The bad news is we have a new thing to add to the list of reasons a team that was supposed to contend for a Super Bowl is fighting for its playoff life after 10 games.

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Where are the 49ers scheduled to pick in the 2025 NFL draft?

For those of you reading ahead, here’s where the 49ers stand in the NFL draft order:

Mid-November is probably too early to start earnestly diving into the NFL draft for the San Francisco 49ers.

Some teams are already eyeing April’s three-day selection event, and while the 49ers playoff chances are dwindling, they still have the talent to turn a corner and make a run at the postseason.

Until the 49ers turn that corner though, we have to operate like they’re not going to, thus leading us to take a quick peek at the 2025 NFL draft order.

Next year’s draft will be particularly important for a 49ers club that’s may be entering a transition stage where they need to supplement their roster with some top-end talent to fill some starting jobs and shore up depth on a top-heavy roster.

The problem for the 49ers goes back to what we just talked about up top — they’re not bad enough to worry about the draft yet which means they’re in the purgatory that sits between a playoff berth and a premium draft pick.

Here’s where things stand in the NFL draft order (non-playoff team edition) after 11 weeks according to Tankathon:

1. Jacksonville Jaguars (2-9)
2. Tennessee Titans (2-8)
3. Cleveland Browns (2-8)
4. New York Giants (2-8)
5. Las Vegas Raiders (2-8)
6. New England Patriots (3-8)
7. New York Jets (3-8)
8. Carolina Panthers (3-7)
9. Dallas Cowboys (3-7)
10. New Orleans Saints (4-7)
11. Cincinnati Bengals (4-7)
12. Miami Dolphins (4-6)
13. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (4-6)
14. Chicago Bears (4-6)
15. Indianapolis Colts (5-6)
16. Seattle Seahawks (5-5)
17. Los Angeles Rams (5-5)
18. San Francisco 49ers (5-5)

That’s right. The 49ers, who are last in the NFC West by way of tiebreaker, would also pick last out of the three 5-5 NFC West teams because of the strength of schedule tiebreaker.

Because the 49ers, Rams and Seahawks all have 5-5 records, the strength of schedule tiebreaker kicks in. The team with the lower strength of schedule gets the earlier draft pick. San Francisco’s opponents have a .549 winning percentage. Seattle’s is .531, and LA’s is .534.

It’s worth noting those numbers are based on season-long percentages. The 49ers have the lowest strength of schedule after 11 weeks.

Ideally the 49ers will turn their season around and find their way into the postseason. For now, we’ll continue keeping track of where they stand in the NFL draft order.

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It may be time for 49ers to part with superstar playmaker in offseason

It might be time…

It appears the San Francisco 49ers are headed toward an offseason full of difficult decisions.

The salary cap and quarterback Brock Purdy’s impending contract extension were always going to make the 2025 offseason a rough one, but the team’s sluggish 5-5 start to the 2024 campaign is an indicator that significant changes need to be made to their roster.

One of those changes may be parting ways with wide receiver Deebo Samuel.

It’s nigh impossible to envision the Kyle Shanahan 49ers without Samuel. His rookie season was in 2019, the year the club turned around a sustained run of mediocrity and catapulted to the Super Bowl. In that year we saw glimpses of what eventually made him an All-Pro in 2021.

He is a unique play maker whose 1,405 receiving yards, 365 rushing yards and 14 touchdowns in 2021 may be a stat line we never see again from a wide receiver.

Samuel was also a consistent offensive spark for San Francisco, and Shanahan wasn’t afraid to lean on him when the team needed to generate offense.

It appears this season that version of Samuel may not be there anymore for the 49ers. In nine games he’s produced 33 receptions, 490 yards and one touchdown on 52 targets. He’s also carried 27 times for just 79 yards and one touchdown. Of his 27 carries, only two have generated either a touchdown or a first down, and his longest run of the season is just 12 yards.

In Sunday’s game against the Seattle Seahawks where the 49ers didn’t have tight end George Kittle, there was a prime opportunity for Samuel to have a major impact. Instead he hauled in four balls for 22 yards and lost one yard on his only carry of the game.

Samuel’s yards after catch per reception are a career-low 7.7 so far this season. His yards-per-route run of 1.98 are the second-lowest mark of his career. He’s also forced only eight missed tackles on 33 receptions after forcing 40 on 73 catches last year. That trend continues in the run game where he has eight missed tackles forced on 27 carries this year, down from 22 missed tackles forced 43 carries a season ago per Pro Football Focus.

The explosiveness that made Samuel the NFL’s most dangerous playmaker through the early portion of his career seems to have evaded him. It’s hard to blame him given the physicality that defined his playmaking ability.

However, the 49ers need to start devising new ways to create offense, and parting ways with Samuel is starting to look like more of a necessity if they want to turn the page to the next chapter of football in San Francisco.

If they make Samuel a post-June 1 designation, they’ll have a $10,751,753 dead cap hit while saving $5,206,105 against the cap per Over the Cap.

With the type of high-priced contracts the 49ers are holding, that extra $5 million in room would be helpful, and Samuel would be able to find a new opportunity with a team that can differently maximize him.

It also opens the door for players like Ricky Pearsall, Jacob Cowing and Jauan Jennings to be more involved in whatever the next evolution of the 49ers’ offense looks like.

Parting ways with the 2021 All-Pro wouldn’t be easy, and it would be perhaps the single biggest move the 49ers could make to signal that a new era has arrived. It may be a necessity though given everything we know after 11 weeks of the 2024 season.

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49ers on the wrong side of mediocrity in USA TODAY NFL power rankings

A steep fall for the 49ers in the USA TODAY power rankings:

The San Francisco 49ers can’t get the benefit of the doubt any longer. This year’s club hasn’t been able to flip the proverbial switch after a slow start, and the problems that plagued them through the first 10 weeks cropped up again in another dreary loss to the Seattle Seahawks.

USA TODAY’s NFL power rankings acted accordingly and dropped the 49ers all the way out of the top half of the league and into No. 18 overall – a well-earned seven-place dip from No. 11 where they resided after a Week 10 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Perhaps the 49ers do have a switch to flip and they do so with their backs against the wall and a brutal stretch coming up where they visit the Green Bay Packers and Buffalo Bills in back-to-back weeks. If they fight their way out of the 5-5 corner they’re backed into and get a couple wins over two playoff teams, then we can revisit their place in the NFL hierarchy.

Linebacker Fred Warner summed it up after the team’s 20-17 loss to the Seattle Seahawks.

“Yeah, it’s not like us,” Warner said of the team’s penchant for face-planting in crucial situations. “But that’s what we’ve shown this year, so I guess until we stop doing that, that’s who we are.”

The 49ers are 5-5, last place in their division and on the outside looking in at the NFC playoff picture. Pedigree doesn’t count for anything in the postseason formula, and until they prove they’re that caliber of team, they deserve to plummet into the range of mediocrity in the power rankings.

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49ers head coach denies impact of ‘Super Bowl hangover’ in rocky start

Super Bowl hangover? Kyle Shanahan isn’t buying it.

It’s easy to pick out reasons the San Francisco 49ers have stumbled through the first 10 weeks of the NFL season. What’s more difficult is pinpointing the why behind those reasons.

After all, the 49ers were a couple plays away from a Super Bowl victory in February, and now they’re 5-5 overall, last in the NFC West and No. 10 overall in the NFC.

One of the explanations commonly tossed out for the team’s issues this season is the dreaded ‘Super Bowl hangover’ teams experience after falling short at the league’s highest stage. Head coach Kyle Shanahan isn’t buying that big-picture explanation.

In a conference call with reporters Monday after the team’s Week 11 loss to the Seattle Seahawks, Shanahan instead pointed to controllable on-field issues the team had in their most recent defeat.

I don’t think there is an answer about a journey or Super Bowl hangover. I think it’s about what’s happening in that exact game. The week before was almost the same game. I think we went down 13 to 10 or something in the third. I think they came back and tied it up and we went down and won it on the last play. So, I don’t think that means we had a killer instinct in that game and not in this game. They took a lead 13 to 10 in the fourth quarter. We went on a 14-play drive and scored a touchdown and overcame a bunch of negative stuff on that drive and still took a 17 to 13 lead. Our defense held them on a fourth-and-one, I think with three and a half minutes to go. So I saw the killer instinct on both of those drives. And then we got to run out the clock on offense and we run three plays, get it down there in second-and-11. We missed a throw and catch, which I think would’ve got us in the red zone and allowed us to run out more clock, possibly the clock, but we didn’t make it and then they got us on the last drive. So we’ve got to play better on those two last drives. And it usually comes down to that in football. If you don’t want it to come down to that before that you’ve got to play pretty flawlessly to get up a couple scores before the end. But that’s why most games in this league do come down to the end and we got that done versus Tampa, but we didn’t get it done this week.

There’s some merit to this. There have been multiple times this season where better execution on one or two plays in a game would have flipped the outcome and had the 49ers sitting at something like 8-2 or 7-3 after 10 games.

However, through 11 weeks they’ve been plagued by different problems that have resulted in five losses. The spate of issues could be explained by the mental and physical fatigue that typically defines a ‘Super Bowl hangover.’

Perhaps Shanahan is correct and the team simply starts executing more effectively down the stretch and they make a run to the postseason. Until they do that though, we’ll be left looking for explanations in what’s been a subpar first 10 games.

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