We’ve been keeping a close eye on everything involving the San Francisco 49ers this season. With Wild Card Weekend against the Philadelphia Eagles approaching, let’s go through the Niners roster position by position, take a closer look at the depth chart situation, and try to tell the story of the team that takes the field on Sunday.
We will try to be as accurate as possible, but knowing injuries and issues at certain positions can make starters/players difficult to predict.
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quarterback
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Adrian Martinez (practice squad)
Despite what some big names would like to believe, this is the team when Brock Purdy is healthy. Purdy missed most of the game with a toe injury. When he shook off the injury and started scrambling, we saw quarterback Kyle Shanahan deem him worthy of leading the team.
If the 49ers are able to win in the playoffs, it will be because their quarterback is able to rise to the challenge and make the players around him better.
Kyle Shanahan is getting more attention on Mac Jones than he expected this season, but the 49ers won’t be able to play this weekend without Jones. Jones has played like a starter this season, winning five games, throwing for over 300 yards in three of them, and throwing for at least two touchdowns in five games.
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The NFL has implemented a third quarterback rule that states that if a team’s two top quarterbacks are injured, the injured healthy quarterback on the 53-man roster can participate in the game, provided the team accepts that neither top quarterback can return to the field. That’s Brock Purdy’s rule since Purdy was injured at UCL during the 2022 NFC Championship Game.
Adrian Martinez almost played in Week 5. Earlier this week, Shanahan said he wouldn’t consider active three quarterbacks after a one-time situation:
“No. I mean, it would put us behind somewhere else, and by the rules you can’t get extra players, and I don’t know who else can really make that choice unless you’re playing with someone who’s really injured and you don’t think they’re going to finish the game. But I mean, having one less player play the entire game, because to me it’s something that only happens once in 23 years, and for other guys that I’ve only played with once in 45 years, it’s probably not going to be possible. Best odds.”
run back
Gallendo rushed the ball 84 times in his rookie season but has zero carries this season. He was a kickoff returner until Week 5, but has been inactive since the team felt Jordan James could help them more on special teams.
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Robinson has never scored in double digits this season but has still been quite impactful. He averaged nearly 30 yards per kickoff return, and he always seemed to give the Niners quality offense when he had enough volume. He’s a fighter and that will help in the playoffs.
Every touch Robinson takes means you’re taking the ball away from McCaffrey, who ranks second in the league in forced steals. McCaffrey has better vision and feel as a runner than Robinson. Combined with his catching ability, it’s why CMC rarely gets off the field.
Not many thought McCaffrey would be healthy through the season. Despite the workload, here we are. McCaffrey had 23 catches and 104 more yards than the second running back. McCaffrey may be the 49ers’ biggest weapon as a receiver in the playoffs.
wide receiver
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The 49ers’ best trio includes Pearsall, Jennings and Robinson. Without Pearsall, his talent and depth will take a significant hit. Jennings is a mid-to-lower threat. Robinson is more of a shooting/frontcourt threat, while Pearsall is Purdy’s go-to guy and has his full trust.
As the season has progressed, we’ve seen Bourne’s limitations. He had his moments, but we’re talking about a player who was released after Week 1 by a team in need of a wide receiver. Moore might be used on jet sweeps or on the occasional deep crossing route, but he was used sparingly. Watkins has become an afterthought.
Jennings may be at his best as a slot receiver. But Robinson didn’t look comfortable playing “F,” which is why he ran 152 routes and 100 in the slot. Robinson had trouble breaking inside routes, which are the backbone of the 49ers’ route tree.
The further Jennings moves down the field, the easier he becomes to defend. Shanahan did a good job of squeezing every ounce of talent out of Jennings, but this wasn’t a talented receiving corps.
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Pearsall is a player you can count on to win one-on-one situations at the mid-depth level. It will be interesting to see how he fares against physical cornerbacks if he can step up like Quinnen Mitchell. The matchups in the playoffs won’t be easy for this team.
tight end
Offensive coordinator Clay Kubiak explained why we didn’t see Kittle and Tongas on the field at the same time:
“When you’re trying to take advantage of the passing game, we’d love to put Jack and George on the floor. But when you actually look at us putting 12 players on first and second downs, we haven’t done that much this year. We’re definitely more of a 21-man team. When we wanted to put Jack and George on the floor together, we did more of the 22. Man. So, it’s something we do talk about. It comes up, but it doesn’t quite fit with our personnel and where we’ve been most of the year, but, for sure, you want Jake and George to be able to play as well, and that’s something we’ve been talking about and addressing throughout the week.”
The 49ers only used 12 personnel 12% of the time, ranking 29th in the NFL. Their 21-man staff ranks first in usage rate at 36%.
Kittle’s health is crucial. Shanahan seemed reluctant to play Kittle in Week 18 as he missed the game due to injury. Kittle ended up catching seven targets last week, but only for 29 yards. With the wide receiver position in question, Kittle should be overly involved in the postseason.
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Farrell is good as a blocker, but his turnovers are enough to make you proud.
The tongue only seems to work when Kittle is injured.
offensive line
The 49ers offensive line has been a pleasant surprise this season. Their All-Pro player, 37-year-old Trent Williams, is their left tackle and locker room voice. Having him back means the 49ers can make the plays they want on the field. 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. His performance was inconsistent, but good enough to warrant him becoming a starter. Brundle is awesome. Puni’s performance in the second half was quite good. Those three will face a nightmare matchup this weekend against Jalen Carter and the physically dominant Eagles defensive line.
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McKivitz made several plays last week similar to the player he was last season. McKivitz has improved a lot, but when the game gets better, there are a few times a game when he’s inevitably going to get beat. He’ll be facing a quality edge rusher in every game this week.
defense
defensive line
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Charger Sam Okuayinonu
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Edge rusher Clelin Ferrell
Kyle Shanahan said entering the season the plan was to have Nick Bosa on one side, Bryce Huff on the other, and Mikel Williams and Yetur Gross-Matos rushing inside. The 49ers have lost three of those players to injuries for much of the season.
That took a toll on Huff’s efficiency. Now, Huff has to play due to injury. To say this is not his strong suit would be an understatement.
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As the season has progressed, the kids have assumed the starting role at defensive tackle. There are enough examples of Collins and West looking like rookies only to be pushed away from the goal. But you can see their impact as run defenders in a lot of exposure.
For Robert Saleh, the biggest problem with this team is that there isn’t a single player who can scare you. You don’t have to worry about one player causing disruption, whether against the run or the pass. Most of the people listed are role players at best. Injuries forced them to work full-time. Without Bosa, you get the second-lowest quarterback pressure percentage and a full percentage point dead last in sack rate.
Without Keion White this weekend, December’s most disruptive pass rusher will be taken away.
defender
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Winters has not practiced this week after suffering an ankle injury in Week 18. Gifford was limited Wednesday but downgraded to DNP on Thursday. The 49ers will enter the playoffs with two new linebackers who were not on the roster before Week 12.
Kendricks looks like a potential upgrade in Week 18. But you can’t say the same about Vallow, who looks like a player who hasn’t played defensive tackle since 2023.
Saleh said he was impressed with how quickly Vallow got back on defense. The lack of physical attributes is concerning, as is his passing skills.
Desperate times call for desperate measures, which is why it wouldn’t be surprising if White is thrown to the wolves if Vallow can’t hold on and Winters is inactive.
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cornerback
This might not be what you want to hear, but we’re going to learn a lot about the 49ers cornerbacks this weekend. Jalen hurts his receivers as often as anyone. The 49ers rank 28th in wide receiver targets by EPA. To beat Hurts, you need to change the post-snap picture and let him have the ball.
The Eagles’ survival depends on the play of AJ Brown and DeVonta Smith. They enjoy “wasting” turnovers because, over the course of the game, they count on their players to be better than yours.
The 49ers defense ranks fifth in EPA per pass attempt of 20+ yards. They also have the fifth-highest average separation in these games.
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Saleh has done his best this season to limit how often Lenoir is targeted, but doing that against the Eagles will be challenging. The trade-off is putting your safety in range against Brown and Smith.
Green ranks 17th among all defensive backs in the league this season in targets (62). He completed just 50% of his passes and had 13 interceptions. Lenoir had 47 targets, while Stout had 44. Lenoir completed 59.6 percent of his passes, allowing three touchdowns and only three pass breakups. He averaged nearly a yard more per target than Green, which explains Saleh’s philosophy.
This weekend, Stout will face his fair share of dropbacks and targets downfield. Each cornerback will be on the field one-on-one for approximately 7-10 passes.
security
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Brown is having the best season of his career. He had seven tackles for loss, a completion percentage of just 47.8, and made a living at the line of scrimmage, where he played well.
Mustafa entered this season with high expectations after an impressive rookie season, but something just wasn’t right. The issue of coverage is obvious. The big hits and stops were there, but the mistakes outweighed the good plays.
Brown and Mustafa both had a turnover rate of over 22%. For context, Jimmie Ward and Jaquiski Tartt generally scored in single digits. That’s a big reason why the defense was so active during Saleh’s first tenure. They made no mistakes on the back end.
Saleh is trying to find his best role at two safeties. Giair has the range and recognition to attack deep, but not the speed. For Mustafa, it was the opposite, which put Saleh in a difficult position.
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So, what do you do? You can’t hide two safeties and a cornerback in coverage. someone Must be covered. Not being able to rely on any form of pass rush doesn’t help either.
The secondary needs to upgrade talent, or at least personnel, to meet what Saleh needs to do in the offseason. Based on how he calls the game, there are two of the five players on the secondary that he trusts.
