Tag: Kyle Shanahan

NFL trade deadline: No major trade isn’t bad news for 49ers

The 2024 NFL trade deadline came and went with the 49ers making only one, very under-the-radar move.

The 2024 edition of the NFL trade deadline came and went with the San Francisco 49ers staying relatively quiet.

The day was headlined by CB Marshon Lattimore going from the New Orleans Saints to the Washington Commanders, edge rusher Za’Darius Smith heading from the Cleveland Browns to the Detriot Lions and wide receiver Mike Williams going from the New York Jets to the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Despite multiple veteran pieces in potential positions of need being available, John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan decided to hold onto their premium draft capital and add some depth on the defensive line. Just before the deadline, San Francisco dealt a future seventh-round pick to the Houston Texans for veteran defensive tackle Khalil Davis.

While they didn’t make a major move on Tuesday, help is on the way for the 49ers.

While they’ve posted an underwhelming 4-4 record through nine weeks, it’s fair to say the 49ers have yet to be healthy at any point in the first half of the season. While they will still be missing players like Brandon Aiyuk, the 49ers will be getting a boost with the return of several key players.

For the first time all season, reigning Offensive Player of the Year Christian McCaffrey is nearing a highly-anticipated return to the field after being sidelined due to an Achilles injury. Along with McCaffrey, Brock Purdy will welcome more help offensively with the soon return of Jauan Jennings.

Jennings, who has posted a breakout campaign in 2024, has missed the last two games with a hip injury. Jennings, with the addition of McCaffrey and rookie Ricky Pearsall, will give Purdy and the 49ers offense more playmakers and depth for the stretch run of the 2024 season.

While Purdy’s offensive weapons will have more flexibility, so will the 49ers’ offensive line. Veteran offensive lineman Jon Feliciano recently had his practice window opened. Feliciano started every playoff game last season. While Dominick Puni likely wont be going anywhere, Feliciano’s return fills a whole in the 49ers offensive line depth. His return also provides competition for players like center Jake Brendel.

While the 49ers still have some question marks on the defensive line, the defensive line unit was a popular group on Tuesday’s trade deadline with players like Smith and Preston Smith being on the move. With Lynch and company not making a move, the 49ers will need to lean on one their free agent signings from the summer – Leonard Floyd.

The veteran pass rusher has had a quiet start to his campaign with the 49ers, recording 24 tackles and three sacks in eight games. Yet, over his last four games, Floyd has notched two of those sacks. If he continues that pace for the second half of the season, Floyd could check many boxes on the 49ers’ defensive front.

Coming off the bye week, the 49ers will enter the post-trade deadline run on Sunday against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

This post originally appeared on Niners Wire! Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!

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49ers scores: How Kyle Shanahan teams do immediately after Bye week

Here’s how the 49ers do under Kyle Shanahan the week after their Bye:

The San Francisco 49ers will need to hit the ground running coming out of their Bye week.

A Week 8 win over the Dallas Cowboys put the 49ers in a spot to be competitive in the NFC West and playoff races the rest of the way, but they’ll need to get off on the right foot out of the gate when the visit the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Recently the first game out of the Bye week has been a bright spot on the 49ers’ schedule.

Under head coach Kyle Shanahan they’re 4-3 after the week off, but they’re 4-1 in their last five. The 2017 and 2018 seasons were outliers where they lost 24-13 at home to the Seattle Seahawks and 27-9 on the road vs. the Buccaneers.

Since then they’ve been pretty good out of the Bye.

In 2019 they blew out the Cleveland Browns 31-3 at Levi’s Stadium. The following year was a disaster, but they still squeaked out a 23-20 road win over the Los Angeles Rams after the Bye.

Quarterback injuries and inclement weather helped catalyze an ugly 30-18 loss at home against the Indianapolis Colts after the 2021 Bye week.

In 2022 they snuck past the Los Angeles Chargers 22-16 early in Christian McCaffrey’s tenure. Then last year they blew out the Jacksonville Jaguars 34-3 in Northeast Florida.

While the 49ers haven’t necessarily been dominant immediately after the Bye week, a 4-1 record in their last five provides optimism they’ll be able to find a win over a shorthanded Buccaneers club coming off a tough, overtime Monday Night Football game on the road vs. the Kansas City Chiefs.

Given Shanahan’s overall record after Bye weeks, getting started with a win would put the 49ers on a very good track to stay prominently in the NFC playoff picture.

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49ers schedule: Calendar change is the good news for San Francisco

The 49ers have won 10 November games in a row.

No team in the league is happier to see October end than the San Francisco 49ers.

October has been by far their least successful month under head coach Kyle Shanahan. Since he took over in 2017, the 49ers are 15-21 in the month. It’s the only month they have a losing record in that stretch. They’re still sub-.500 in October even if we remove 2017 and 2018 where they were a combined 0-9.

The calendar is officially turned to November though where the 49ers tend to turn things around.

In November they’re 14-9 under Shanahan, including 10 consecutive victories dating back to Week 10 of the 2021 season.

Oddly enough, they started 3-5 in that 2021 campaign before rallying back to make a run to the NFC championship game. This season they’re 4-4, but they’re in need of a similar run if they want to win the NFC West and put themselves in position to make the NFC championship game.

While their play in October wasn’t great, there were signs of progress as the month ended. In their final three games, they converted 66.7 percent of their red zone trips into touchdowns after being near 40 percent for the season before that. Their win over the Dallas Cowboys in Week 8 also saw the 49ers get back to some of the fundamental strengths of their offense with short throws and yards-after-catch.

If those trends are a sign of things to come, we should see another strong November showing for the 49ers. History says this is the time Shanahan teams start playing their best football. San Francisco needs another year of that in 2024, because another rough October means they don’t have the margin for error to overcome a lackluster November.

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Why 49ers won’t make big splash at 2024 trade deadline

The 49ers will likely be active at the trade deadline, but don’t expect them to make a big splash.

The San Francisco 49ers are in a weird place as the 2024 NFL trade deadline approaches.

They entered this year hoping to make another Super Bowl run, and their 4-4 record has them in the thick of the playoff race as the get to their Week 9 Bye. On the other hand, San Francisco through eight weeks hasn’t looked like a Super Bowl contender, which makes the trade deadline an important point for them in the 2024 campaign.

While a big-time trade may be what the 49ers ultimately need to get over the hump, don’t expect them to push all their chips in for a run this season.

The 49ers’ front office has been aggressive in making acquisitions since general manager John Lynch and head coach Kyle Shanahan took over. That’s especially true when they feel like such moves will help them win a Super Bowl. However, they’ve typically juxtaposed that ‘all-in’ mentality with an eye toward the future. There’s an immediate plan, but there’s also a longer term vision that includes the three-plus years down the road.

A longer-term vision may be what keeps them from unloading premium assets in a trade during a season where they’ve started 4-4.

The 49ers are in something of a transition period with their roster where the next three or four years will see an exodus of the core veterans that have kept their championship window open since the 2019 season. Players like left tackle Trent Williams, fullback Kyle Juszczyk and tight end George Kittle are reaching a point where they won’t be substantial parts of the team in three or four years. That job belongs to the likes of quarterback Brock Purdy, wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk, defensive end Nick Bosa and linebacker Fred Warner. They represent a new core that would ideally throw open a new Super Bowl window.

That group will need the support of draft picks that will theoretically replace some of the exiting veterans.

In some ways the 49ers are already feeling the sting of losing three first-round picks in the Trey Lance trade before the 2021 draft. The lack of top-end depth has hurt them as veterans have gotten too expensive to keep and injuries have forced the club to dig deeper into their depth chart. That shrinks their margin for error with the selections that will help comprise their new core of players on a Super Bowl contender.

It’s hard to believe a team that’s generally so focused on the future will push all its chips in to try and make a run with this 2024 club.

Instead of using premium future draft capital, they’ll likely aim to shell out some later-round picks for depth along the defensive line, or wherever the team believes it most needs the assistance. That’ll allow them to thread the needle between trying to contend this year without mortgaging their future.

Some better depth at a couple of key spots combined with the impending return of reigning Offensive Player of the Year Christian McCaffrey should be enough to at least put the 49ers in the conversation when it comes to this year’s Super Bowl.

A big splash in the trade market would definitely put them there, but there’s too much at stake in the future for the 49ers to go make such a splash now.

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Did Kyle Shanahan hint that 49ers plan to keep pending free agent CB?

Deommodore Lenoir has been awesome this season.

There aren’t many players on the San Francisco 49ers playing better than cornerback Deommodore Lenoir through the first eight weeks.

Lenoir, a fifth-round pick in the 2021 draft, is entering the final year of his contract and appears to be on track for a sizable payday in the offseason. The 49ers have some financial constraints ahead considering the lucrative contract extension quarterback Brock Purdy figures to fetch this offseason, but Lenoir may be another player they prioritize.

Head coach Kyle Shanahan on Monday was asked about Lenoir’s terrific start to the 2024 campaign. In his answer he made an interesting comment about Lenoir’s playing style that may signal the team’s intent to pay him in free agency.

“Yeah, DMo’s been a stud,” Shanahan said. “He is exactly what you want a 49er to play like. He came in his first rookie camp and stood out, got me fined for illegally jamming people too hard and putting on the internet. So, I always mess with him for that. But he started out real well, made a couple mistakes early on as a rookie and lost his confidence just a little bit I thought his rookie year. Then that second season, the way he came back in the offseason, kind of just possessed to get that job back and he’s kind of owned it ever since. He’s been a stud for a while to me and he gets better each year. He’s having a hell of a year.”

It’s not a slam dunk that the 49ers will keep a player just because the head coach said “he is exactly what you want a 49er to play like,” but it’s an indication of how highly regarded Lenoir is in the team’s building.

He has the versatility to play in the slot or outside, and he’s steadily improved over his four years to become the most reliable member of a very good secondary.

Lenoir figures to get a big-time contract in free agency, and his market may dictate that he’s owed more than the 49ers can or will spend at corner.

However, his importance to their team is growing and Shanahan’s quote on him is indicative of that.

If the 49ers’ pass rush continues to struggle and their secondary continues playing well, we may see a shift in philosophy where the 49ers prioritize a very good coverage corner like Lenoir, then see if they can go bargain hunting to fill in their pass rush instead of the other way around.

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49ers offense gets boost from unlikely source vs. Cowboys

Shoutout to Isaac Guerendo.

The San Francisco 49ers’ offense was stuck in a little bit of a rut Sunday night against the Dallas Cowboys, but an unlikely hero helped them turn it around.

In the first half of a 30-24 win over the Cowboys, the 49ers scored only six points. Their run game in particular struggled with running back Jordan Mason churning out only 18 yards on six carries in the first quarter and change.

A shoulder injury wound up forcing Mason into the locker room before halftime, opening the door for rookie fourth-round pick Isaac Guerendo. He entered the game with just 23 carries on the season, including only one in Week 7 against the Chiefs.

Sunday wasn’t the first time Guerendo got an opportunity for extended playing time, but it was certainly his best outing. He rushed for 85 yards on 14 carries and scored his first-career touchdown. He also got to 85 yards with a long run of just 19.

Head coach Kyle Shanahan told reporters after the game that the improvement for Guerendo has been clear.

“I think he’s learned from each run he’s gotten,” Shanahan said. “There are a couple runs earlier in the year that he did alright on, but we grade him pretty hard, everybody pretty hard. And he had a couple, like four-yard runs we thought he could have got seven yards on. We go pretty hard on him. And then you watch how he takes that to practice and everything we’ve really kind of been pushing him with, he’s been real coachable, he’s not a sensitive guy, he’s real detailed and he’s very poised for a rookie. Things aren’t too big for him and didn’t get a lot of preseason, but once he got healthy there and throughout this year, I feel he’s gotten better each week.”

Guerendo also played a big role in the 49ers’ Week 6 win over the Seattle Seahawks, but he struggled to find running room in that game before a 76-yard run late in the fourth quarter helped the 49ers seal the victory. He finished the game with 10 carries for 99 yards.

He was more consistent Sunday night with runs of 19 and 15 yards on his first two touches. He flashed his speed and his power, and in general looked more patient in waiting for running lanes to develop.

Shanahan also said Guerendo was running well enough that they didn’t even try to put Mason back in the game after he came out for the second half with his helmet on — a sign he was ready to go.

Guerendo rewarded the 49ers’ faith in him by going for 47 yards and a touchdown on 11 carries in the second half. He also contributed as a pass catcher, hauling in three of his four targets for 17 yards.

The talent has always been apparent with Guerendo, he just wasn’t catching on the way we’ve seen other RBs do in Shanahan’s scheme. Sunday night was his coming out party and it came in a game where the 49ers desperately needed their run game to get rolling to help them turn things around after a rough first half.

With Christian McCaffrey set to return soon, Guerendo may not get another opportunity as a lead RB this season, but he took his opportunity Sunday night and played well enough to be a major cog in a huge 49ers victory.

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Hard-hitting rookie standing out to 49ers HC Kyle Shanahan

The rookie out of Wake Forest recorded a team-high 12 tackles against the Chiefs.

During their ugly loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in a Super Bowl rematch on Sunday, one of the bright spots for the San Francisco 49ers was the play of rookie safety Malik Mustapha.
The rookie out of Wake Forest led the 49ers in tackles with 12. Along with leading the team in tackles, Mustapha helped provide a spark to the defense with some physicality and highlight-worthy hits.
Yet, his breakout performance was curbed by Mustapha being on the wrong end of a run from Patrick Mahomes. Late in the game, Mahomes ran for a Chiefs touchdown. On his way to the endzone, the Chiefs quarterback ran over Mustapha at the goal line. After the game, Mustapha quickly took to Twitter with a joke about being run over by Mahomes.
On Wednesday when asked about Mustapha, head coach Kyle Shanahan had praise for the 49ers’ rookie safety. Shanahan said he thinks Mustapha played one of the better games of his rookie season. Shanahan also commented on Mustapha getting trucked by Mahomes at the end of the game.
Oh, he’s been awesome. I thought he played a really good game. I thought he had one of the better games on our team. I thought he had some really good hits. He got in an unfortunate position on the goal line, but that’s what I like about him. He’s not going to sit there and take a creative angle, even if he’s not in position to have his legs under him he’s going to just throw his body out there and do whatever he can. And unfortunately, you’ve got to deal with social media these days. But I haven’t had to deal with it, so I don’t know how bad it is for him. I thought he had one of his better games.
During Sunday’s Week 7 contest, Mustapha punished Chiefs playmakers with multiple big hits that echoed through Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara. Shanahan said Mustapha uses a “sprint tackle.”
Yeah, you can hear it, you can see it. He’s one of those guys that, we call it a sprint-tackle. He doesn’t really, you have a long-stride to eat up the grass and a short-stride to kind of hit guys and he’s just long-stride. He kind of goes right through them and there’s one speed and that’s the best way to tackle guys, as long as you don’t miss.
With secondary-leader Talanoa Hufanga dealing with a wrist injury, the 49ers will continue to lean on the rookie safety as an anchor on the back end of their defense.

This post originally appeared on Niners Wire! Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!

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Christian McCaffrey update: Practice window may open during Bye week

Christian McCaffrey’s practice window may open soon!

The San Francisco 49ers appear to be inching closer toward a return for star running back Christian McCaffrey.

Head coach Kyle Shanahan on Monday intimated the team was hoping to get the 2023 Offensive Player of the Year back shortly after their Week 9 Bye.

When asked Wednesday about McCaffrey, Shanahan said he’s hopeful the 21-day practice window will open for him during the team’s Bye week.

Since McCaffrey is on IR with his Achilles tendinitis, he can’t take part in any practices with the team. He is allowed to do rehab and solo on-field work. It would make sense that the team wants to maximize his ramp up with on-field team work.

By opening his window during the Bye, they’ll be able to have him for any workouts they do during their week off. Even if there’s no Bye week work, he’ll be able to take part in the Monday bonus practice after the Bye, and then in a full week of practices leading up to the team’s Week 10 matchup with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

That would give him at least four practices before suiting up in a game, which may be enough for a player with McCaffrey’s experience.

One advantage the 49ers have in this situation is that third-year RB Jordan Mason has been a star with McCaffrey out. That’ll allow San Francisco to ease McCaffrey into work without overdoing it in games.

Managing his Achilles tendinitis is going to be a major task for the 49ers the rest of the way, and how successful they are in doing that may determine whether they can make another playoff run this season.

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Kyle Shanahan explains why 49ers have gone away from successful offensive play type

Kyle Shanahan’s explanation for the 49ers’ dip in play action rate lines up with the numbers. A deep-ish dive:

There was a curious trend for the San Francisco 49ers’ offense through the first five weeks of the 2024 season.

After leaning heavily on play-action through Brock Purdy’s first season-plus, they started going away from it this year. It would’ve made sense had Purdy’s numbers out of play action started dipping, but he was still seeing a massive uptick in productivity on those plays.

In 2022 the 49ers ran play action 26.6 percent of the time with Purdy under center. That number dipped a little to 23.0 percent last year in his first full season as a starter.

Going into Week 6 of this season, the play action rate had plummeted to 17.6 percent.

It was a head-scratching choice that head coach Kyle Shanahan explained in a press conference Wednesday.

“No, we just try to run what we think looks good on tape and it kind of just depends on how people are playing us and sometimes we think it looks really good, sometimes we think it’s not so good,” Shanahan said. “So it’s not like we don’t just do things every week because we do it. I think it’s just been just a matter of how the schedule’s played out.”

We dug into some of the 49ers’ play action numbers and it was pretty easy to spot what got the team’s play action rate down. It turns out blitzing San Francisco heavily this season will typically get them out of their play action game.

Here’s a handy graph we made using data from Pro Football Focus:

The 49ers’ play-action rate against the Vikings was just 6.7 percent thanks to Minnesota blitzing Purdy on 51.1 percent of his dropbacks.

Against the Patriots’ 40.0 percent blitz rate, San Francisco ran play action just 13.3 percent of the time.

Conversely, the 49ers’ season-high 29.0 percent play action rate against the Seahawks came with Seattle blitzing on a season-low 19.4 percent of the 49ers’ dropbacks.

The only real outlier from this trend is Week 5 where the Cardinals brought a blitz on 46.3 percent of Purdy’s dropbacks and the 49ers still passed with play action 24.4 percent of the time. Interestingly, that Week 5 performance was also Purdy’s worst of the year. He completed just 54.3 percent of his throws and tossed two interceptions with only one touchdown for a season-low 62.1 quarterback rating.

This all tracks with what Shanahan told reporters in response to questions about the team’s drop in play action rate. Defenses that blitz more are generally going to keep the 49ers from running longer-developing plays that require a fake handoff.

Eliminating the Patriots and Vikings games puts the 49ers’ play action rate at 24.4 percent – right between what it was in Purdy’s first two years.

Play action hasn’t been abandoned by the 49ers. Defenses are just playing them a little differently in 2024. That’ll always be an important element to the 49ers’ passing game, particularly given how effective their run game is. However, how Purdy adjusts against the blitz and how the offense adapts to punish teams for bringing extra pass rushers will ultimately determine their success on that side of the ball this season.

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Kyle Shanahan approaching dubious 49ers record vs. Chiefs head coach Andy Reid

Kyle Shanahan needs to solve the Andy Reid Chiefs.

San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan has downplayed the team’s Week 7 Super Bowl rematch against the Kansas City Chiefs.

While he’s willing to admit that watching film of their heartbreaking Super Bowl LVIII isn’t easy, Shanahan told reporters in a press conference before Wednesday’s practice that he isn’t putting any additional weight on Sunday’s game because of that loss.

“Yeah, I think everyone understands that we’ve lost the two Super Bowls to them,” Shanahan said. “So I mean, that can give a little post-traumatic stress when you turn on the tape, but I think that’s human nature. But you’ve got to make sure you don’t get caught up in that.

“This game has nothing to do with past games, that was last year. We’re playing a really good AFC opponent. We’re .500 right now. We want to stay on top of our division and get a win. I don’t really, you think about that stuff going into it, but in terms of what it plays out in a game, it really has no correlation, and you try to make sure that it doesn’t.”

It’s easy to point to Super Bowl revenge as a potential motivating factor for San Francisco. However, there’s a larger issue unfolding.

Shanahan can’t beat Chiefs head coach Andy Reid.

The 49ers since Shanahan took over in 2017 are 0-4 against Reid’s Chiefs. That includes a Week 3 loss in the 2018 regular season, a Week 7 loss in the 2022 regular season and a pair of Super Bowls.

According to the AP’s Josh Dubow, it’s the second-most games a 49ers head coach has lost to another head coach without securing a win. Jack Christensen, who coached the 49ers for 67 games between 1963 and 1967, went 0-9 against Baltimore Colts head coach Don Shula.

It’s easy to write off the 2018 loss as the Chiefs just being better. They went to the AFC title game that year while the 49ers stumbled to a 4-12 finish.

The two Super Bowls and the 2022 regular season matchup make it seem as though the Chiefs head coach and his staff found the key to solve the Shanahan 49ers. While the teams regularly play close games, it’s Reid’s club that comes up on the right side of seemingly every big play.

Perhaps the 2024 regular season is where that trend flips. Given that the Chiefs figure to be in the way again if the 49ers are in Super Bowl contention any time over the next decade or so, solving Reid and his Kansas City club is crucial.

Sunday’s game may be ‘just another game,’ but it could have a ripple effect that leads to either a Super Bowl win or another Super Bowl defeat at some point down the road.

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