The 49ers enter Week 2 as heavy favorites over the Dolphins, and the matchup sheet gives San Francisco plenty of places to lean on Miami.
Start with the coaching side. Kyle Shanahan knows this staff well, and that familiarity matters here.
Miami head coach and defensive play caller Jeff Hafley spent 2016 through 2018 as the 49ers defensive backs coach. He also brought Bobby Slowik in to run the Dolphins offense.
Slowik was with Miami last year, after working with McDaniel and the 49ers from 2017 through 2022, climbing from quality control to assistant to passing game coordinator.
Both coaches are sharp and have taken a lot from Shanahan. But Shanahan knows them better.
Up front, the 49ers should like their chances against Miami’s interior offensive line. The veteran acquisition for San Francisco was excellent in Week 1, finishing with five pressures, and the Dolphins have major questions inside.
At right guard, Jonah Savaiinaea struggled as a rookie and did not look improved in his second year. Kadyn Proctor is starting at left guard, but he is still a rookie despite being a first-round pick.
That’s a tough setup against a seasoned disruptor.
There’s also a clear edge waiting for San Francisco against Miami’s third receiver. The Dolphins are thin at wideout, which puts Malik Washington in a difficult spot.
He caught three passes on eight targets in Week 1, and his career high in yards is 317. Stout is not the best cover man, but Washington may not get enough room to get going.
Miami’s secondary looks vulnerable too. The unit already had questions before the season, and Week 1 only added to them.
Rookie Chris Johnson is being asked to handle work both inside and outside, which is a lot to put on a first-year player even if he went in the first round. Jason Marshall and Juju Brents are the other cornerback options, and if the Dolphins need Mike Evans to have a big game, he will produce as much as they want.
The pass rush depth is another place San Francisco can attack. Miami does have young, ascending Chop Robinson, but after him the group thins out quickly.
Josh Uche is there as a speed rusher, while Malik Herring and Robert Beal round out the rotation. Herring has not recorded a pressure since Week 11 of 2024, and Beal could not even make the 49ers’ weak group.
In Other News...
Kaepernick Just Reopened A 49ers Era Story Fans Will Remember
Colin Kaepernick is back in the conversation with a new memoir, The Perilous Fight, and the book has already started to reopen one of the most familiar chapters from his 49ers years. Released Sept. 15, the memoir leans into personal stories and reflection, including an anecdote about Taylor Swift and his adoptive mother, while also giving Kaepernick another platform to revisit the larger arc of his career and the fight that followed it.
On a podcast interview the next day, Kaepernick shifted from memoir mode to sharper criticism, taking aim at Patriots owner Robert Kraft over the removal of rapper Macklemore from Ed Sheerans tour. He used the moment to argue that NFL owners work together to protect their interests, while also revisiting his grievance against the league and how his view of owner cooperation has evolved. For 49ers fans, it is another reminder that Kaepernicks story remains as much about the leagues power structure as it is about the quarterback who once defined an era in San Francisco. [Read more 🡒]
49ers Avoid One Levi's Stadium Wrinkle Against The Dolphins
Week 2 brings a more comfortable setup for the 49ers at Levis Stadium, where theyll host the Dolphins under conditions that look far kinder than some of the early-season home games San Francisco has endured in recent years. Forecasts for kickoff call for 72 degrees, clear skies and light winds, the kind of afternoon that should let football, not the weather, drive the conversation.
For a team that has had to manage excessive heat in past daytime games at home, that matters more than it might seem on paper. The Dolphins arrive as a dangerous early test, but the 49ers at least appear set to avoid one of the more annoying variables that can turn a September game in Santa Clara into something closer to a survival exercise. [Read more 🡒]
Fred Warner Said What 49ers Fans Were Feeling About Dre Greenlaw
The 49ers defense wasted no time reminding the rest of the NFC why it still draws so much attention in Santa Clara. In Week 1 against the Rams, San Francisco held Los Angeles under 10 points, and the middle of that effort looked familiar again with Fred Warner and Dre Greenlaw back side by side on the field. Warner led the way with 11 tackles, while Greenlaw added six in his return after spending a year with the Denver Broncos.
For 49ers fans, the reunion carried a little extra weight because it brought back a pairing that has long been tied to the identity of this defense. Warner sounded as energized as the crowd felt about seeing Greenlaw back in the mix, and the early result suggested the comfort level between the two has not gone anywhere. The bigger question now is how quickly that revived linebacker duo can help San Francisco settle in as the season unfolds. [Read more 🡒]