Le Journal

The San Francisco 49ers’ season came to a screeching halt after a 41-6 loss to Seattle in the NFC Divisional round. The opening kickoff was returned for a touchdown, and it felt like the 49ers couldn’t climb out of the early hole all game. It only got worse as the 49ers’ offense doubled their scoring output from their Week 18 matchup with Seattle and scored six points. The offseason is now filled with questions about the roster and how the 49ers can keep up in the NFC West arms race with Los Angeles and Seattle, who will face off in the NFC Championship Game. Let’s look at the snap counts and grades from Saturday’s game, according to Pro Football Focus: Offense Quarterback Brock Purdy 51 (59.3) Mac Jones 9 (55.8) Purdy was under siege all game, running from the Seahawks’ front four. We’ve all seen the ridiculous stat of Purdy running for over 400 yards behind the line of scrimmage on scrambles. Purdy had two turnovers, including a sack and a fumble, but the game was well out of reach. Although Purdy was only sacked twice, his pressure-to-sack percentage was 10% with 20 pressures on dropbacks. Running Back Christian McCaffrey 31 (62.8) Kyle Juszczyk 31 (66.4) Brian Robinson Jr 15 (48.6) Jordan James 14 (74.4) It’s never a good sign when your quarterback leads the team in rushing yards, but McCaffrey suffered a shoulder injury during the game and tried to fight through it. Brian Robinson finished with four yards on three carries. The bright side is rookie Jordan James touched the football for the first time in his career and finished with 28 yards on six carries. The fourth down option call in the first quarter was an indication of how the day would go for the 49ers on offense. Wide Receiver Jauan Jennings 47 (55.5) Ricky Pearsall 42 (51.6) Kendrick Bourne 24 (52.5) Demarcus Robinson 24 (54.4) Skyy Moore 9 (54.6) Between the five receivers who ran routes on Saturday, the group totaled three catches for 24 yards. Twenty-three of those yards belonged to Jennings, with Robinson accounting for the other one. Pearsall returned but was unable to bring in either of his two targets, including a diving attempt that was initially ruled a catch but overturned. The 49ers have to address the wide receiver room in the draft and in free agency. The current group lacks speed, and Seattle’s defense was never challenged. Tight End Luke Farrell 34 (39.7) Jake Tonges 29 (90.3) Filling in for George Kittle, Tonges was the 49ers’ leading receiver with five catches for 59 yards, but coughed up the football with a costly fumble as the 49ers were trying to climb back into the game. Tonges ended up with an injury of his own, which is why Farrell had the higher snap count. However, Farrell did not fight for the ball when Purdy targeted him, which led to an interception. His other target was a catch for one yard. Offensive Line Spencer Burford 60 (43.5) Colton McKivitz 60 (75.7) Dominick Puni 57 (54.4) Jake Brendel 57 (65.5) Trent Williams 57 (72.6) Connor Colby 3 (80.7) Matt Hennessey 3 (60.7) Austen Pleasants 3 (58.3) The offensive line had a rough day at the office. Burford led the team with six pressures allowed, five hurries, and a QB hit. PFF graded his pass blocking at 38.8. McKivitz was second with five pressures and four hurries allowed. The two sacks were charged to McKivitz and Puni. Brendel and Williams both allowed two pressures, but finished with the two highest pass blocking grades at 75.7 for Brendel and 86.9 for Williams. The good news is that Williams confirmed he will return next season, but the 49ers have to take a hard look at the offensive line this offseason. Defense Defensive Line Alfred Collins 27 (26.5) CJ West 26 (29.9) Sam Okuayinonu 25 (49.9) Keion White 25 (61.1) Jordan Elliott 25 (49.6) Kalia Davis 24 (55.8) Clelin Ferrell 23 (60.4) Bryce Huff 21 (53.8) Yetur Gross-Matos 18 (50.5) While the 49ers did total two sacks, one of them was given to Malik Mustapha. Of the nine pressures, seven were credited to the defensive line.…

The San Francisco 49ers’ 35-point defeat was the second-largest margin in a playoff game in franchise history. After the game, head coach Kyle Shanahan said, “It’s a loss, but definitely don’t make more of it than it was. It was a loss.” That’s an impressive perspective to have after walking off the field to a 41-6 score. Today, we’ll discuss what we learned about the 49ers after their playoff loss to the Seattle Seahawks. There’s a need for speed on the roster During the game preview, I mentioned the team speed on the roster in the Week 14 rematch with the Seahawks in 2023. That season, Christian McCaffrey, George Kittle, Deebo Samuel, and Brandon Aiyuk could be found on the weekly Next Gen Stats leaderboard as the fastest players of the week. A Niners player topped 20 miles per hour a whopping 16 times that season. The only player to accomplish that feat this season was Dee Winters after his interception with the Colts. Jauan Jennings logged the fastest time at 19.23 miles per hour. The other two fastest ball carriers on the roster this postseason were Skyy Moore and Brock Purdy—a far cry from two playoffs ago. It’s not often you see a Kyle Shanahan quarterback standing in the pocket, holding the ball, and waiting for somebody, anybody to separate. It didn’t happen. ESPN’s Nick Wagoner tweeted that the 49ers’ average top speed this year was 12.81 miles per hour, the sixth-slowest in the NFL. Samuel and Aiyuk didn’t test fast at the NFL Combine, but their play speed passed the eye test. That tells us that 40 times aren’t the best way to gauge play speed. For example, Jennings ran a 4.7 40 and had the fastest time on offense this season. The play where Jennings reached that speed in the Wild Card round is precisely what the Niners need, a player that can, consistently, turn those intermediate in-breakers into 40+ yard catches. Adding speed isn’t limited to the offensive side of the ball. In the Wild Card round, Saquon Barkley easily ran away from Deommodore Lenoir. This past weekend, Jaxon Smith-Njigba had clear separation on Darrell Luter on his end zone touchdown, while getting a hand on running back Kenneth Walker, who was problematic in each of the previous two games. The 49ers are slow on the perimeter, and it showed at the worst possible times. The rookies, Upton Stout and Marques Sigle, are unquestionably fast. But the play speed everywhere else in the back-7 did not look like that of a playoff contender. Invest in the interior Spencer Burford has long been an intriguing option, but he was one of the last picks in the fourth round, who is undersized and an average athlete. Burford, like Ben Bartch, is an unrestricted free agent this offseason. There weren’t enough exposures of Burford learning from mistakes in pass protection to warrant another season as the starting left guard. Center Jake Brendel is under contract for another season. He’ll be 34 by Week 1 next season. He’s a quality player and does a lot to help the offense, but this would be the offseason to identify Brendel’s replacement. Dominick Puni has two years left on his rookie deal. He’s a player you can win with. The 49ers went against two of the best defensive tackles in the NFL in Byron Murphy and Jalen Carter during the playoffs. Seattle and Philadelphia’s interior pressure was king in both games. The playoffs showed that the 49ers should strongly consider investing in the interior offensive line. Stealing a page out of Seattle’s book from the 2025 NFL Draft might not be the worst idea. Grey Zabel is arguably the best rookie from that class. But that also goes against the front office’s philosophy. Aaron Banks being selected in the middle of the second round was the highest Shanahan selected a guard. The free agent pool doesn’t exactly scream, “Invest in me,” meaning the 49ers must identify a starter in the NFL Draft at left guard. Find a blue-chip player in the secondary Of the four remaining teams in the playoffs, only the Rams don’t have a blue-chip…