The 49ers came away with a win over the defending Super Bowl champion Seahawks, but not every performance in the building boosted a player's standing. A few San Francisco players left the game with questions hanging over their roles, their production, or both.
Up front, Colby got handled by one of the league’s better young interior defenders. Colby has been better in 2026 than he was in 2025, though some of that improvement may have come against lighter competition.
That didn’t matter here, because Byron Murphy got the better of him and Colby surrendered three pressures, according to PFF. San Francisco’s run game also had a rough night.
The passing game hasn’t offered much help behind the main names at the top. Christian McCaffrey, George Kittle, and Mike Evans are carrying the attack, while the rest of the group has done little to change the picture.
Deebo Samuel has 206 receiving yards this season, but 80 of them came on a hook and lateral he did not even receive. Since Week 3, Jordan Watkins has just two catches for 60 yards, which ranks fifth on the team.
Jacob Cowing has nine yards, and Brandon Cooks has seven. That’s a thin return from a key part of the roster.
Black also looks less central than he did after a strong start. He opened the year with 14 rushing attempts for 65 yards in the 49ers’ Week 1 win, and it seemed like he might become a real piece of the offense.
Since then, he has 23 carries for 71 yards. His success rate remains strong, and the team does trust him in short-yardage spots, but he hasn’t turned into the bigger offensive factor many expected, and he still hasn’t shown much burst or involvement in the passing game.
Greenlaw’s season has been uneven, and this game didn’t help settle anything. He has made impact plays and has been effective downhill, but in space he has missed tackles.
He had been dependable until he was ejected early for what the source described as a silly ejection. Jaden Dugger made the most of Greenlaw’s absence, and the team appears more committed to Dugger going forward beyond this year.
That raises a real question about whether Dugger can start to cut into Greenlaw’s snaps.
On the edge, Okoronkwo’s role has already started to shrink again. With injuries piling up in that room, San Francisco had leaned on him more heavily, giving him 48 snaps in Week 3 and then 25 the next week.
But with Mykel Williams back, that number dropped to 14. He is not expected to move ahead of Romello Height or Keion White, and when Nick Bosa returns, Okoronkwo could be the one left inactive.
In Other News...
Brock Purdy Is Entering A 49ers Debate Fans Will Love
Brock Purdys steady start has the 49ers sitting in rare company, and it has also pulled his name into a familiar kind of national discussion. After another consistent stretch through the first five weeks of the season, Purdy has helped keep San Francisco undefeated, giving the offense the kind of stability that tends to change how outsiders talk about the quarterback at the center of it all.
Bill Simmons only added fuel to that conversation on a recent episode of The Ringer, offering high praise for Purdy and placing him in an unexpected lane when he talked about where the 49ers passer stacks up. With the Chiefs also unbeaten and Purdy continuing to look the part in his third season, the debate around how high his ceiling really goes is only going to get louder from here. [Read more 🡒]
49ers Receiver Injuries Just Forced A Decision They Wanted To Avoid
The 49ers receiver room has thinned fast enough that it has become a real roster question heading into Week 6 against Washington. With Deebo Samuel sidelined and the group already short on healthy bodies from the original roster, San Francisco is suddenly in a spot it wanted to avoid, one where depth matters as much as star power and every available option has to be weighed carefully.
That has naturally pushed the front office toward a familiar kind of midseason check-in: look at the market, see what is out there, and decide whether the need is urgent enough to act. Veterans such as Tyreek Hill have been mentioned among the possibilities, but the 49ers have been measured so far, suggesting they are trying to solve a receiver problem without overreacting to it. [Read more 🡒]
49ers Rookie Suddenly Has A Big Chance To Change The Linebacker Plan
Dre Greenlaws suspension has opened an unexpected lane for rookie Jaden Dugger, who now looks positioned to take on a much bigger role for the 49ers in Week 6. Dugger has already had a season of fluctuating snap counts, but he also showed what the staff is willing to ask of him when Greenlaw was previously unavailable, logging a career-high workload in that stretch.
For San Francisco, this is more than a short-term patch at WILL linebacker. It is a real chance to see whether Dugger can handle a heavier weekly burden and settle into the kind of role the defense has been searching for, especially with Greenlaw sidelined. If the rookie responds well, it could give the 49ers a new layer of flexibility at a position that may become one of the more interesting decisions on the roster down the road. [Read more 🡒]