Our very own Randal Kennedy, aka @FF_Terminator brings his take on the San Francisco 49ers offseason breakdown to the table, with a little more brevity than past breakdowns. Let us know @TheUndroppables on Twitter if you enjoy the alternate format!
Offseason Moves
The San Francisco 49ers had a busy offseason. Tooling up for another Super Bowl run has turned out to be harder than it first appeared. Despite the juggling act at hand, John Lynch has managed to keep most of the band together. The fourth-year GM had some tough decisions to make entering free agency. The first, electing to re-sign Arik Armstead to a five-year, $85 million deal. The club paid him like the guy who had 10 sacks last year instead of the guy who had just nine in his first four seasons. Hopefully the light has come on for Armstead, because Lynch elected to trade fellow defensive lineman DeForest Buckner to Indianapolis for the 13th overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft. Veteran wide receiver Emanuel Sanders was also allowed to walk in free agency, leaving a hole in the receiving corps that was exacerbated by the recent injury to Deebo Samuel. The second-year pro suffered a Jones fracture while training with his teammates and is expected to miss at least 10 weeks. Samuel led all NFL wideouts in missed tackles forced in 2019 and was expected to be a big part of the 49ers offense moving forward. The late season emergence of Raheem Mostert and pending arrival of backfield-mate Jerick McKinnon made talented but often injured Matt Breida expendable, so Lynch elected to trade Breida to Miami. Tevin Coleman also remains in the mix here. The 49ers should have another solid committee approach to their backfield in 2020.
The offensive line is largely the same, but the team did cut starting guard Mike Person. Daniel Brunskill, who has played well in spot duty, is expected to ascend the depth chart and assume the now vacant spot at right guard. The Niners also made a splash second-day draft trade and acquired Trent Williams from the Redskins. Williams was recently voted the third-best tackle in the league by ESPN and is expected to step in right away for Joe Staley, who retired after 13 seasons with the club. One thing the 49ers haven’t accomplished this offseason is the resigning of All-Pro tight end George Kittle. Long considered one of the league’s best players, he is expected to set the market at his position.
Offense: A Breakdown
Head Coach Kyle Shanahan runs a complicated and multi-faceted system built on the running game. If you’re familiar with our podcast UNscripted, you know that the 49ers run more 21 personnel than anyone in the league. The continued advancement of college-style or spread offenses have rendered the fullback position virtually obsolete. But don’t tell that to Kyle Shanahan, and don’t you DARE tell that to Kyle Juszczyk. The talented fullback is a legitimate weapon on the field, and he allows the 49ers to hide run/pass concepts despite what might be given away by formation. Juice, as he is affectionately referred, has caught 83 balls the last three years, despite missing 10 games in that same span.
A common theme in any Shanahan offense is versatility. Having multiple people who can do multiple things. Tight end George Kittle is a perfect example of this. Not only is he one of the league’s best pass catchers, he is also one of the best blocking tight ends in the NFL. The 49ers love to throw to Kittle from run tight formations. An example of this is the 61 yard touchdown from their regular season matchup against Green Bay. The 49ers had established the run and were pushing the Packers’ defensive line around. Quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo called a play fake, rolled to his left, and hit a wide open George Kittle downfield. Kittle had released play side, but traversed the entire formation and got open on the back side. All this was possible because of the previously established run game that sucked the linebackers in and allowed Kittle (thought to be blocking) to get free deep. You can see this play broken down by Chris Collinsworth at the end of the highlight reel embedded below.
6 targets
6 catches
129 yards
21.5 yards/catch
1 touchdownHere’s every George Kittle catch from last night’s win over the Packers. #49ers
(🎥: @NFL)pic.twitter.com/z04Lh1OdKm— Rob Lowder (@Rob_Lowder) November 25, 2019
The 49ers could struggle early if rookie acquisition Brandon Aiyuk isn’t ready to shoulder some of the load vacated by the aforementioned Sanders. With Deebo Samuel also out, he could be pressed into action that the truncated offseason has left him ill-prepared for. The 49ers may rely more heavily on known commodities early on.
You wouldn’t expect a team seven minutes from winning the Super Bowl to make many offseason moves, and the 49ers didn’t. But the moves they made were impactful. And while replacing veterans DeForest Buckner and Emmanuel Sanders with rookies Javon Kinlaw and Brandon Aiyuk may be in the best interest of the long term health of the franchise, it could provide a big enough hurdle to keep the team from returning to the big stage in 2020.
