Tag: deebo samuel injury

How Jim Schwartz and the Browns tore Kyle Shanahan’s 49ers offense apart

The Browns’ defense took Kyle Shanahan’s beautiful 49ers offense to the woodshed last Sunday. Here’s how they did it — and why other defenses can’t.

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The San Francisco 49ers had a feeling that they were running into a buzzsaw last Sunday in the Cleveland Browns’ defense.

“He is one of the most talented guys I think anyone’s seen,” head coach Kyle Shanahan said of Browns edge-monster Myles Garrett last Wednesday. “And the style they play on defense is very similar to ours. They rush the passer every play and then react to everything else. Him combined with [Cleveland Browns defensive coordinator Jim] Schwartz’s scheme and the guys around him, it’s a problem. It’s obvious why they’re a top defense right now.”

Shanahan had equal praise for Cleveland’s defensive backs.

“Very good. When you have the D-Line they have, the downhill linebackers, you better have some good corners, and they have very good ones. They play a lot of man-to-man coverage. They’ll mix in some zone. But, when you play that much man-to-man and you’re also the number one pass defense in the league, you’ve got to have some good corners.”

Jim Schwartz also understood the challenges of the 49ers’ top-ranked offense and all the shifts and motions presented.

“But I think probably the biggest thing that stands out is they have so many multipurpose players, multi-position players,” Schwartz said last Thursday. “I think a common thing is people say positionless players. These guys aren’t positionless. They have multiple positions. [Christian] McCaffrey can be a wide out. He can be a running back. Deebo can be a wide out. He can be a running back. [George] Kittle can be a tight end. He can be a wide out. [Kyle] Juszcyk can be a fullback. He can be a tight end. He can be a wide out. He can carry the ball.

“They put a lot of I won’t say stress, but they make it where you just can’t defend one thing. They can be in 21 personnel, two backs, tight end and two wideouts, and they can make you defend twelve alignments, eleven alignments, empty alignments, two back alignments. And they’ll all use their wide receivers to block. Their wide receivers do an outstanding job of blocking. So we’re going to have to play our game and accentuate our guys. We have some multipurpose players that can do a lot of things. It’s going to be a great matchup. This is NFL football at its finest. This is an outstanding offense, a good defense. We’ll be ready for it.”

So, everybody knew what they were in for. The Browns were the NFL’s top defense in DVOA, and outside of a few hiccups against the Ravens in Week 4, they’ve maintained a historic pace all the way through the young season.

After Cleveland’s 19-17 win over the 49ers on Sunday, that pace fortified itself.

How bad was it for the 49ers’ offense, and how good was it for the Browns’ defense? Quarterback Brock Purdy came into this game with an EPA of 51.96 — by far the best in the league. Tua Tagovailoa ranked second at 42.28. Against the Browns, Purdy’s EPA was -8.0. And Purdy was completely shut down in the ways in which he’s succeeded all season long. The failure rate against Cleveland’s defense was that much more shocking in comparison.

Before this game, Christian McCaffrey’s average yards before contact per attempt was 1.80. His average yards after contact was 3.35. Against the Browns, McCaffrey had -0.18 yards per carry before contact, and 4.09 yards after. So, when he was able to get out of the vise the Browns’ fronts had him in at and behind the line of scrimmage, McCaffrey represented himself pretty well. But getting there was a challenge at times.

After watching the tape on Monday, Shanahan concluded that his offense was mostly outmatched.

“I mean, they played aggressive man coverage. We knew that going into it. They had a couple of pressures that got us, we had a couple mistakes that got us in really negative situations. We had two drives in that game that didn’t have a negative play. That was the first drive that we scored a touchdown and it was the last drive where we ended up missing that field goal. We got in some negative situations where we had second-and-long and third-and-long. And then with that pass rush and the tight coverages, that makes it really tough on a quarterback. So I think just as a team wholly, just getting into some of those bad situations made Brock’s job a lot tougher. But he mixed it up throughout the game, did a good job.

It was tough on film going in, and it was tough during the game, too.”

It was, so let’s go to the film to see what the Browns did to Shanahan’s normally impeccable creation.

49ers WR Deebo Samuel breaks foot and hearts in the process

Can Samuel salvage a fantasy-worthy season after the injury?

If you were among the many fantasy football gamers who expected a true breakout season from San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Deebo Samuel in 2020, it’s time to reconsider — but not entirely write off — that idea. The second-year pro broke his foot in a workout session Thursday, June 18, and he will miss between three and four months of action.

A Jones fracture of the fifth metatarsal bone is among the toughest to overcome, and it generally requires hardware to be inserted into the foot for stabilization. Dez Bryant suffered the injury in September of 2015, and while he missed only seven games, the former Dallas Cowboy really wasn’t quite as explosive afterward. Marvin Jones underwent surgery for it in 2014 but came back strong.

The best-case scenario for his return is Week 2, and the extended range is Week 6, depending upon his conditioning. The 49ers are thin as it is at the position, and the setback will have a group of youngsters thrust into the spotlight. Rookie first-rounder Brandon Aiyuk is fairly raw and will be asked to take on the No. 1 duties, but this run-heavy offense’s top target is ultimately tight end George Kittle.

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Veterans Kendrick Bourne and Dante Pettis may be involved more than planned, and second-year receiver Jalen Hurd could benefit the most from this situation. Hurd, however, is arguably the rawest of the lot, and he’s effectively playing in a rookie season after redshirting in 2019.

Even deeper, Trent Taylor hopes to return from a serious injury of his own, and veteran Travis Benjamin was signed in the offseason.

More passes to the running backs can be expected, and the Niners are likely to entertain free-agent receiver options if Samuel appears to be on the long end of the prognosis. Interestingly, Bryant could be on their radar if it looks like Samuel will miss extensive action.

Fantasy football takeaway

From Samuel’s perspective, there’s thankfully some time yet, and if he misses only one game, the breakout season really could be within reach. The safe approach is to expect him to miss three or four games, and that would probably result in another couple of appearances before he’s fully up to speed. If you’re drafting early, treat him as a No. 3 wideout in all scoring formats. Should you have the luxury of waiting until late in the summer, we’ll have a better idea of his timeline to adjust accordingly. Finishing as a No. 2 receiver isn’t out of the question for him just yet.

Drop quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo to a low-tier QB2, and expect more targets for Kittle. He remains a strong TE1, if not the TE1. Presuming we indeed see a traditional training camp, Aiyuk will be worked in as much as possible and stands to benefit greatly. His speed is the rook’s best attribute, and there’s low-end WR3 or flex value if Samuel misses significant time.

Bourne and Pettis are merely fliers in the deepest of leagues, with pristine matchups being the only justifiable way to play them. Both RBs Raheem Mostert and Tevin Coleman are now solidly in play as weekly lineup options the entire while Samuel sits.

The most important aspect of evaluating the situation is closely monitoring media reports of Samuel’s injury. We’ll be sure to keep you updated on The Huddle.