We’ve been keeping tabs on everything involving the San Francisco 49ers this season. Heading into Wild Card weekend against the Philadelphia Eagles, let’s go position-by-position through the Niners’ 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.
We’ll try to be as accurate as possible, but understand injuries and questions at certain positions make the starter/player difficult to predict.
Quarterback
- Brock Purdy
- Mac Jones
- Adrian Martinez (practice squad)
Despite what some of the bigger talking heads wanted to believe, this was Brock Purdy’s team when he’s 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.
If the 49ers are going to win in the postseason, it’ll be because their quarterback rises to the challenge and makes the players around him better.
Kyle Shanahan saw more of Mac Jones this season than he wanted, but without Jones, the 49ers aren’t 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.
The NFL implemented a third quarterback rule stating that if both of the team’s 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’s the Brock Purdy rule, after Purdy suffered a UCL injury during the 2022 NFC Championship game.
Adrian Martinez almost played in Week 5. Earlier in the week, Shanahan said he isn’t considering having three quarterbacks active after a one-off situation:
“No. I mean, that would take us down somewhere else and with that rule that you don’t get an extra player, I don’t know anyone else who can ever choose that really, unless you’re playing with someone who’s really injured and you don’t think they’ll 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’ve worked with once in 45 years, just probably wouldn’t be the best odds.”
Running back
- Christian McCaffrey
- Brian Robinson
- Jordan James
- Isaac Guerendo
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.
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’s a bruiser, and that could help in the playoffs.
Every touch Robinson gets means you’re taking the ball out of McCaffrey’s hands, who is second in the league in forced missed tackles. McCaffrey’s vision and feel as a runner are superior to Robinson’s. Add that in with his receiving ability, and that’s why CMC rarely comes off the field.
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’ biggest weapon.
Wide receiver
- 1) Ricky Pearsall
- 2) Jauan Jennings
- 3) Demarcus Robinson
- 4) Kendrick Bourne
- 5) Skyy Moore
- 6) Jordan Watkins
The 49ers’ 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.
As the season has gone on, we’ve seen Bourne’s limitations. He’s had his moments, but we’re 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.
Jennings is probably at his best as a slot receiver. But Robinson did not look comfortable playing “F,” which is why he’s 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’ route tree.
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.
Pearsall is the one player you can trust to win 1-on-1 at the intermediate and deep level. It’ll be interesting to see how he fares against a physical cornerback, if he plays, like Quinyon Mitchell. It won’t be an easy matchup in the playoffs for this unit.
Tight End
- George Kittle
- Jake Tonges
- Luke Farrell
Offensive coordinator Klay Kubiak explained why we haven’t seen Kittle and Tonges on the field at the same time:
“We’d love to have Jake and George out there, as far as when you’re 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’t done that a ton this year. We’re definitely more of a 21 team. We’ve done a little bit more 22 when we want to get Jake out there too with George. So, it’s something we do talk about. It comes up, but it hasn’t really fit so far with kind of our personnels and what we’ve been in the majority of the year. But, for sure, you’d love to have Jake and George out there too. It’s something we always talk about and work through as the week goes on.”
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.
Kittle’s 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.
Farrell has been decent as a blocker, but he has enough misses that make you raise an eyebrow.
Tonges only seems to play when Kittle is hurt.
Offensive line
- LT Trent Williams
- LG Spencer Burford
- C Jake Brendel
- RG Dominick Puni
- RT Colton McKivitz
- OT Austen Pleasants
- C Matt Hennessy
- OG Connor Colby
The 49ers’ 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’t the case in Week 18, the only game Williams missed all season.
Burford remains a question mark after playing left guard for the first time as a pro this season. He’s 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’ defensive line.
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’s inevitable that he gets beaten. This week, he’ll face a quality edge rusher on every play.
Defense
Defensive line
- Edge rusher Bryce Huff
- DT Jordan Elliott
- DT Kalia Davis
- Edge rusher Sam Okuayinonu
- Edge rusher Keion White
- DT Alfred Collins
- DT CJ West
- Edge rusher Clelin Ferrell
- DT Yetur Gross-Matos
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.
It’s taken a toll on Huff’s effectiveness. Now, Huff is having to play the run because of all the injuries. To say that’s not his strength is an understatement.
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.
The biggest issue with this group, and for Robert Saleh, is that no singular player scares you. You don’t have to worry about one player being disruptive, whether it’s 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.
Not having Keion White this weekend would take away the most disruptive pass rusher in December.
Linebacker
- Eric Kendricks
- Dee Winters
- Garret Wallow
- Luke Gifford
- Curtis Robinson
- Kyzir White
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’t on the roster before Week 12.
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’t played a defensive snap since 2023.
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.
Desperate times call for desperate measures, which is why it wouldn’t be surprising to see White thrown to the wolves if Wallow can’t hold up and Winters is inactive.
Cornerback
- Renardo Green
- Deommodore Lenoir
- Upton Stout
- Darrell Luter Jr.
- Chase Lucas
- Siran Neal
This may not be what you want to hear, but we are about to learn a lot about the 49ers’ 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.
The Eagles live and die by the big play to A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith. They are comfortable “wasting” downs because over the course of a game, they’re banking on their guys being better than yours.
The 49ers’ 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.
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.
Green has been targeted (62) the 17th most of any defensive back in the league this season. He’s 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’s averaging nearly a yard more per target than Green, which explains Saleh’s philosophy.
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.
Safeties
- Ji’Ayir Brown
- Malik Mustapha
- Jason Pinnock
- Marques Sigle
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.
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.
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’s first stint were so dynamic. They didn’t make mistakes on the back-end.
Saleh is struggling to find the best role for two box safeties. Ji’Ayir has the range and recognition to play deep, but not the speed. It’s the opposite for Mustapha, putting Saleh in a bind.
So, what do you do? You can’t hide two safeties and one cornerback in coverage. Somebody has to cover. Not being able to lean on any sort of pass rush doesn’t help, either.
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.
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