Two weeks into the season, the 49ers’ run defense has already been tested by injuries, new faces and a whole lot of shuffling up front. The numbers show a unit that has had its rough patches: San Francisco ranks 17th in rushing success rate and 12th in EPA per rush, and the Rams and Dolphins both found stretches where they could lean on the ground game.
A big part of that comes down to who the 49ers have actually been able to put on the field. Depth has been wiped out, and that forced the staff to adjust on the fly.
Sam Okuayinonu and Alfred Collins were supposed to be part of the early-season mix. Okuayinonu is an underrated defender, while Collins, alongside CJ West, was expected to build on his rookie season.
Instead, Collins’ path was derailed before the season even got rolling. He was coming back from a torn labrum that required offseason surgery and missed the opening block of training camp practices.
Then a torn patellar tendon ended his season right before Week 1. Okuayinonu broke his foot the day before, and the 49ers were left scrambling.
That’s how Khalid Kareem went from the Falcons’ practice squad to being part of the defensive-line rotation. It also changed what the team could do with Romello Height, who is now being used as an every-down player rather than in a more limited pass-rush role.
All-Pro linebacker Fred Warner addressed the early issues against the run this way:
“I think the run game right now, you’ve got to remember, it’s a new system. New things, techniques, schemes are being put into place.
It’s a new group, guys kind of meshing together trying to figure out where does everybody fit. I think the thing that has helped a ton is the style of play, but it’s something that will continue to get better as we go on.”
Warner wasn’t pretending the unit was where it wants to be, either.
”I’m not sitting here saying I’m complacent with it at all. Selfishly, I want us to be dominant in all areas, especially in the run game.
But the No. 1 thing the offenses want to do is create explosives. They want to get the run game going to get guys biting up to ultimately take shots down the field.
So everything got to be complementary. It’s something that we’re looking at and something we’re looking to get better in all areas.”
Even with the uneven numbers, the 49ers have been good enough at snuffing out the big stuff. Through two games, they’ve allowed only three carries of 10 or more yards, tied for the second-fewest in the NFL. Their 11 stuffs rank 14th, but that kind of steady work has been enough when paired with how well they’ve handled the pass.
Nick Bosa, Fred Warner and Upton Stout have all had moments where they’ve shut a drive down almost by themselves. That may not be the cleanest long-term answer against the run, but it has worked so far, and there’s nothing in the way they’ve won those snaps that suggests the stops are about to disappear.
The challenge now is keeping it together with even more personnel turnover coming. The losses of West and James Thompson Jr. mean the 49ers will have to lean on players who weren’t even on the roster entering Week 1.
Naquan Jones and McKinnley Jackson are next in line, and their conditioning will matter because the bodies are running thin behind Osa Odighizuwa and Gracen Halton. Raheem Morris used five-man fronts in Week 2, with all defensive linemen on the field, though he could always shift back to the Week 1 approach that featured Jaden Dugger on the EDGE.
What hasn’t changed is Morris’ willingness to adapt to the personnel available. He’s shown that through the first two weeks. And for San Francisco, the biggest help on defense has come from the other side of the ball, where the offense is scoring at an absurd rate and forcing opponents to keep up.
In Other News...
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49ers Injury Crunch Is Forcing An Unproven Receiver Into The Spotlight
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Watkins has barely seen the field in his previous seasons, which makes this an important chance for him to show he can handle a bigger role when the offense needs help. For San Francisco, it is another reminder of how quickly depth can get tested, and how a player who was more of an afterthought in August can suddenly become part of the weekly plan in September. [Read more 🡒]