We\u2019ve been keeping tabs on everything involving the San Francisco 49ers this season. Heading into Wild Card weekend against the Philadelphia Eagles, let\u2019s go position-by-position through the Niners\u2019 roster to detail how the depth chart stands, in an attempt to tell the story of the team that will take the field on Sunday.<\/p>\n
We\u2019ll try to be as accurate as possible, but understand injuries and questions at certain positions make the starter\/player difficult to predict.<\/p>\n
Brock PurdyMac JonesAdrian Martinez (practice squad)<\/p>\n
Despite what some of the bigger talking heads wanted to believe, this was Brock Purdy\u2019s team when he\u2019s healthy. Purdy battled a toe injury that kept him out for a chunk of games. Once he shook off the injury and began to scramble, we saw the quarterback Kyle Shanahan believed was worthy of carrying the franchise.<\/p>\n
If the 49ers are going to win in the postseason, it\u2019ll be because their quarterback rises to the challenge and makes the players around him better.<\/p>\n
Kyle Shanahan saw more of Mac Jones this season than he wanted, but without Jones, the 49ers aren\u2019t playing this weekend. Jones played like a starter this season, winning five games and throwing for over 300 yards in three of those games, and had at least two passing touchdowns in five games.<\/p>\n
The NFL implemented a third quarterback rule stating that if both of the team\u2019s top two quarterbacks are injured, a healthy-scratched quarterback on the 53-man roster may enter the game, provided the team accepts that neither of the top two quarterbacks can return to action. It\u2019s the Brock Purdy rule, after Purdy suffered a UCL injury during the 2022 NFC Championship game.<\/p>\n
Adrian Martinez almost played in Week 5. Earlier in the week, Shanahan said he isn\u2019t considering having three quarterbacks active after a one-off situation:<\/p>\n
\u201cNo. I mean, that would take us down somewhere else and with that rule that you don\u2019t get an extra player, I don\u2019t know anyone else who can ever choose that really, unless you\u2019re playing with someone who\u2019s really injured and you don\u2019t think they\u2019ll make it through the game. But I mean, to play with one less player throughout the game because of something that, for me has happened once in 23 years and other people I\u2019ve worked with once in 45 years, just probably wouldn\u2019t be the best odds.\u201d<\/p>\n
Christian McCaffreyBrian RobinsonJordan JamesIsaac Guerendo<\/p>\n
After 84 carries during his rookie season, Guerendo has zero this season. He was the kickoff returner until Week 5, but has been inactive since the team felt Jordan James could give them more on special teams.<\/p>\n
Robinson never had double-digit carries this season, but still had quite the impact. He averaged nearly 30 yards per kickoff return and always seemed to give the Niners offense quality carries when he had enough quantity. He\u2019s a bruiser, and that could help in the playoffs.<\/p>\n
Every touch Robinson gets means you\u2019re taking the ball out of McCaffrey\u2019s hands, who is second in the league in forced missed tackles. McCaffrey\u2019s vision and feel as a runner are superior to Robinson\u2019s. Add that in with his receiving ability, and that\u2019s why CMC rarely comes off the field.<\/p>\n
Not many thought McCaffrey would make it through a full season healthy. Despite a heavy workload, here we are. McCaffrey had 23 more receptions than the next running back and 104 more receiving yards. In the playoffs, McCaffrey as a receiver might be the 49ers\u2019 biggest weapon.<\/p>\n
1) Ricky Pearsall2) Jauan Jennings3) Demarcus Robinson4) Kendrick Bourne5) Skyy Moore6) Jordan Watkins<\/p>\n
The 49ers\u2019 best trio consists of Pearsall, Jennings, and Robinson. Without Pearsall, the talent and depth take a significant blow. Jennings is the intermediate to underneath threat. Robinson is more of a shot-play\/downfield threat, and Pearsall is the go-to guy for Purdy, who has all of his trust.<\/p>\n
As the season has gone on, we\u2019ve seen Bourne\u2019s limitations. He\u2019s had his moments, but we\u2019re talking about a player who was released after Week 1 by a wide receiver-needy team. Moore might be used on a jet sweep or an occasional deep crossing route, but his usage has been rare. Watkins has become an afterthought.<\/p>\n
Jennings is probably at his best as a slot receiver. But Robinson did not look comfortable playing \u201cF,\u201d which is why he\u2019s run 152 routes out wide compared to 100 in the slot. Robinson struggles to run in-breaking routes, which are the bread and butter of the 49ers\u2019 route tree.<\/p>\n
Jennings becomes easier to guard the further he gets down the field. Shanahan has done a great job of squeezing every ounce of talent he can out of Jennings, but this is not an overly talented receiving group.<\/p>\n
Pearsall is the one player you can trust to win 1-on-1 at the intermediate and deep level. It\u2019ll be interesting to see how he fares against a physical cornerback, if he plays, like Quinyon Mitchell. It won\u2019t be an easy matchup in the playoffs for this unit.<\/p>\n
George KittleJake TongesLuke Farrell<\/p>\n
Offensive coordinator Klay Kubiak explained why we haven\u2019t seen Kittle and Tonges on the field at the same time:<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019d love to have Jake and George out there, as far as when you\u2019re trying to take advantage of passing situations. But, when you really look at when we put 12 out there in first, second down running situations, we haven\u2019t done that a ton this year. We\u2019re definitely more of a 21 team. We\u2019ve done a little bit more 22 when we want to get Jake out there too with George. So, it\u2019s something we do talk about. It comes up, but it hasn\u2019t really fit so far with kind of our personnels and what we\u2019ve been in the majority of the year. But, for sure, you\u2019d love to have Jake and George out there too. It\u2019s something we always talk about and work through as the week goes on.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 49ers only used 12 personnel 12 percent of the time, which is 29th in the NFL. Their 21 personnel usage is first at 36 percent.<\/p>\n
Kittle\u2019s health is essential. It seemed like Shanahan was reluctant to use Kittle down the field in Week 18, coming off an injury that kept him out of a game. Kittle ended up with seven targets, but only 29 yards last week. With the wide receiver position in question, Kittle should be overly involved in the playoffs.<\/p>\n
Farrell has been decent as a blocker, but he has enough misses that make you raise an eyebrow.<\/p>\n
Tonges only seems to play when Kittle is hurt.<\/p>\n
LT Trent WilliamsLG Spencer BurfordC Jake BrendelRG Dominick PuniRT Colton McKivitzOT Austen PleasantsC Matt HennessyOG Connor Colby<\/p>\n
The 49ers\u2019 offensive line has been a pleasant surprise this season. Their All-Pro 37-year-old leads them left tackle and voice of the locker room, Trent Williams. Getting him back in the fold means the 49ers can run the plays they want to on the ground. That wasn\u2019t the case in Week 18, the only game Williams missed all season.<\/p>\n
Burford remains a question mark after playing left guard for the first time as a pro this season. He\u2019s inconsistent, but does enough to warrant being a starter. Brendel has been awesome. Puni has been quite good in the second half. These three are in for a nightmare matchup against Jalen Carter this weekend and a physically dominant Eagles\u2019 defensive line.<\/p>\n
McKivitz had a couple of reps last week that resembled the player from last season. McKivitz is much improved, but when the competition gets better, there are plays a few times a game where it\u2019s inevitable that he gets beaten. This week, he\u2019ll face a quality edge rusher on every play.<\/p>\n
Edge rusher Bryce HuffDT Jordan ElliottDT Kalia DavisEdge rusher Sam OkuayinonuEdge rusher Keion WhiteDT Alfred CollinsDT CJ WestEdge rusher Clelin FerrellDT Yetur Gross-Matos<\/p>\n
Kyle Shanahan said coming into this season, the plan was to have Nick Bosa on one side, Bryce Huff on the other, with Mykel Williams and Yetur Gross-Matos rushing from the inside. The 49ers lost three of those players to injury for much of the season.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s taken a toll on Huff\u2019s effectiveness. Now, Huff is having to play the run because of all the injuries. To say that\u2019s not his strength is an understatement.<\/p>\n
As the season has gone along, the kids have assumed the roles of the starters at defensive tackle. There are enough examples where Collins and West look like rookies and get pushed off the ball. But there are plenty of exposures where you can see them make an impact as run defenders.<\/p>\n
The biggest issue with this group, and for Robert Saleh, is that no singular player scares you. You don\u2019t have to worry about one player being disruptive, whether it\u2019s against the run or the pass. Most everybody listed is, at best, a role player. Injuries have forced them into full-time duty. No Bosa is how you end up with the second-lowest quarterback pressure percentage and are dead last by a full percentage point in sack rate.<\/p>\n
Not having Keion White this weekend would take away the most disruptive pass rusher in December.<\/p>\n
Eric KendricksDee WintersGarret WallowLuke GiffordCurtis RobinsonKyzir White<\/p>\n
Winters has yet to practice this week after suffering an ankle injury in Week 18. Gifford was limited on Wednesday but downgraded to a DNP on Thursday. The 49ers are going to go into a playoff game with two new linebackers starting that weren\u2019t on the roster before Week 12.<\/p>\n
Kendricks looked like a player who could potentially be an upgrade in Week 18. But you cannot say the same for Wallow, who looked like a player who hadn\u2019t played a defensive snap since 2023.<\/p>\n
Saleh said he had been impressed by how quickly Wallow had picked up the defense. The lack of physicality was concerning, as was his skills in the passing game.<\/p>\n
Desperate times call for desperate measures, which is why it wouldn\u2019t be surprising to see White thrown to the wolves if Wallow can\u2019t hold up and Winters is inactive.<\/p>\n
Renardo GreenDeommodore LenoirUpton StoutDarrell Luter Jr.Chase LucasSiran Neal<\/p>\n
This may not be what you want to hear, but we are about to learn a lot about the 49ers\u2019 cornerbacks this weekend. Jalen Hurts targets his wideouts as often as anybody. The 49ers are 28th in EPA in wide receiver targets. To beat Hurts, you want to change the picture post-snap and cause him to hold the ball.<\/p>\n
The Eagles live and die by the big play to A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith. They are comfortable \u201cwasting\u201d downs because over the course of a game, they\u2019re banking on their guys being better than yours.<\/p>\n
The 49ers\u2019 defense has allowed the fifth-highest EPA per pass on throws over 20 yards. They also have the fifth-most average separation on those plays.<\/p>\n
Saleh has done his best to limit how often Lenoir is targeted this season, but it will be challenging to do that against the Eagles. The trade-off would be to put your safeties in coverage against Brown and Smith.<\/p>\n
Green has been targeted (62) the 17th most of any defensive back in the league this season. He\u2019s only allowed a 50 percent completion percentage and has 13 pass breakups. Lenoir has 47 targets, while Stout has 44. Lenoir allows 59.6 percent of his passes to be completed, has allowed three touchdowns, and has only three pass breakups. He\u2019s averaging nearly a yard more per target than Green, which explains Saleh\u2019s philosophy.<\/p>\n
Stout will face his fair share of slot fades and downfield targets this weekend. There will be about 7-10 passes down the field, 1-on-1, for each cornerback.<\/p>\n
Ji\u2019Ayir BrownMalik MustaphaJason PinnockMarques Sigle<\/p>\n
Brown is having his best season as a pro. He has seven tackles for loss, is only allowing a 47.8 completion percentage, and has made a living around the line of scrimmage, making plays.<\/p>\n
Mustapha came into this season with high expectations after an impressive rookie year, but something is off. The issues in coverage are obvious. The big hits and stops are there, but the misses are outweighing the good plays.<\/p>\n
Both Brown and Mustapha have missed-tackle rates above 22 percent. For context, Jimmie Ward and Jaquiski Tartt were generally in single digits. That was a big reason why those defenses under Saleh\u2019s first stint were so dynamic. They didn\u2019t make mistakes on the back-end.<\/p>\n
Saleh is struggling to find the best role for two box safeties. Ji\u2019Ayir has the range and recognition to play deep, but not the speed. It\u2019s the opposite for Mustapha, putting Saleh in a bind.<\/p>\n
So, what do you do? You can\u2019t hide two safeties and one cornerback in coverage. Somebody has to cover. Not being able to lean on any sort of pass rush doesn\u2019t help, either.<\/p>\n
The secondary needs to upgrade the talent, or at least the personnel, for what Saleh needs them to do this offseason. Based on how he calls plays, there are two of the five players in the secondary he trusts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"We\u2019ve been keeping tabs on everything involving the San Francisco 49ers this season. Heading into Wild Card weekend…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":126908,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[101,3321,48327,3323,103,102,104,106,105],"class_list":["post-126907","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-49ers-depth-chart","tag-san-francisco-49ers-playoffs","tag-san-francisco-49ers-roster","tag-san-francisco-headlines","tag-san-francisco-news","tag-sf","tag-sf-headlines","tag-sf-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126907","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=126907"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126907\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/126908"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=126907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=126907"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=126907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}