The San Francisco 49ers open the home portion of their preseason slate Saturday evening when they take on the Denver Broncos at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara. Coming off a 34-7 loss to the Raiders in their preseason opener, the 49ers will look for improved performances from several players in their second practice game.
Here is what to watch for Saturday evening against the Broncos.
Starters
According to Shanahan, there is a possibility of quarterback Brock Purdy making his preseason debut. For this to happen most of the 49ers starting offense will also be on the field.
If Purdy and the starters get on the field expect them to play about a series, maybe two depending on how many plays they get in.
Quarterback Rotation
Trey Lance got the first half against the Raiders with Sam Darnold coming in for the third quarter. This will be flipped against Denver on Saturday night.
The battle to back up Brock Purdy is tight. Darnold looks better, he’s smoother, but the results so far haven’t been much different from those of Lance. A longer look at the veteran should provide a clearer view of where the two are.
Jordan Mason vs Ty Davis-Price
With Elijah Mitchell battling injuries once again the door is open for Mason or Davis-Price to step up and take the second running back role.
Mason has looked solid during camp with several nice runs. More importantly, Mason has shown himself to be the more capable back in pass protection. The former undrafted free agent is not afraid to square up defenders when it comes to protecting the quarterback.
The same cannot be said for Davis-Price. The former third-round pick had a poor showing against Las Vegas, diving or simply throwing a shoulder at the oncoming blitzers.
Cameron Latu
San Francisco spent a third-round pick on the former Alabama tight end and so far the investment is not paying off. Latu has struggled to hold on to the ball throughout camp. He’s dropping passes on a consistent basis, and when he does make a catch like he did against the Raiders, he fumbles.
With the drafting of Latu and Brayden Willis it is clear the 49ers are looking for upgrades behind George Kittle.
Willis has proven to be the better pass catcher of the two, but he’s not yet the blocker Latu or veteran Charlier Woerner are. On the other hand, Ross Dwelley is one of the best receivers on the team and is doing everything he can to improve as a blocker.
Latu’s drops could lead to some very tough decisions at this position come cut down.
Slot Corner
San Francisco added Isaiah Oliver to be their slot corner during free agency.
Following a rough performance against Las Vegas, Kyle Shanahan said of Oliver “he isn’t a guaranteed starter. He has been doing that spot a lot, but there’s a lot of competition the re.”
The competition ramped up during practice this week with Deommodore Lenoir, A.J. Parker and rookie D’Shawn Jamison getting several reps inside.
Linebackers
Rookies Jalen Graham and Dee Winters are pushing veterans Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles and Curtis Robinson for roster spots behind Fred Warner, Dre Greelaw and Oren Burks.
Against the Raiders, Graham finished with six tackles, tying him for the team lead with second year linebacker Marcelino McCrary-Ball.
Graham’s background as a safety-linebacker hybrid in college is like that of Fred Warner. Like the 49ers All-Pro linebacker, Graham has shown the ability to move well in coverage while also attacking the line of scrimmage against the run.
Offensive Line
The 49ers starters are set along the offensive line. The key question is who fills the three positions behind Trent Williams, Aaron Banks, Jake Brendel, Spencer Burford and Colton McKivitz.
Jon Feliciano is about as sure a thing as the five starters. The veteran started at center against Las Vegas and can play all three positions along the interior of the offensive line.
Swing tackle is up for grabs with Jaylon Moore and Matt Pryor competing. Moore, a fifth-round pick of the 49ers in 2021, appears to have the edge due to his ability to play both sides while Pryor is much better on the right side than left.
The eighth and likely final spot on the active roster is a tough call. Nick Zakelj, a 2022 sixth-round pick has been up and down throughout camp. The same can be said for another second-year player, Jason Poe.
Undrafted rookie free agents Ilm Manning and Joey Fisher drew praise from offensive line coach Chris Foerster for their play late in the game on Sunday.
Robert Beal Jr.
San Francisco used a fifth-round pick on the defensive end out of Georgia. Beal was held out of the preseason opener due to injury and is expected to make his preseason debut against Denver.
The 49ers were drawn to Beal for his explosiveness off the snap. Something he showed off during one-on-one reps with the offensive line during practices this week.
Jake Moody
Moody gave plenty of ammo to fans who felt the 49ers made a mistake by taking the kicker in the third round when he missed both of his field goal attempts, wide left from 40 yards and wide right from 58 yards, against the Raiders.
The rookie was very good in practice this week with his only miss coming on a 61 yard attempt Tuesday afternoon.
Thanks, Jack.
Glad to read a little Dwelley piece.
I’ve always liked Dwelley and agree that he has very good catching ability. I was actually hoping to see more of him on the field last season because he generally catches everything thrown his way.
Except for his blocking, I would rate RD over Woerner, who really wasn’t much of a difference maker last season.
Too bad, Dwelley is not a natural blocker, otherwise he would be the unquestioned TE2.
Well. You know what let’s just wait until the next game against Denver to see how the backups will do to see if they will play any better than they did against Las Vegas. Brock Brothers bad timing which led to interceptions is the result of missing most of the off-season due to his injury. Javon kinlaws bad play I think is the result of him being rusty. Here I go again with Khalon Leborn. I hope he gets a better chance this time to prove why some team should have drafted him. In practice against each other, they looked good. But against LV, they looked terrible. But they will be all right.
Oh, shoot! I meant Purdy. Not brothers. This stupid phone of mine. We should be much better and in synch by the time we play Philly, and an improved Seattle team I think will be up there with us. Not to mention an improved Cowboy team seeking revenge on us for those two playoff losses. If we don’t make it to the Superbowl, these two teams I absolutely don’t want to see there, either. Dallas and Kansas City.
One of the most popular preseason bets is on the Super Bowl futures market because every team has relatively juicy odds. When it comes to the 49ers odds to win the Super Bowl in 2024, DraftKings currently has them set at +1000, which makes them fourth on the betting favorite totem pole out of 32 NFL teams. They sit behind only the Kansas City Chiefs (+600), Philadelphia Eagles (+650) and Buffalo Bills (+900)
Viva Las Vegas !
It seems that in the handful of starts Trey Lance is a slow starter. His best play is in the second half.
I say ‘seems’ because I’m not going on stats. Mainly by whether the play looks instinctive and natural. Like he belongs on an NFL field. It’s only a small sampling of NFL starts. So nothing is conclusive.
Trey is worth much more than a 3rd or later given the injury rates to starters and the Super Bowl window.
The last time the 49ers played a Sean Payton coached team, Jim Harbaugh was the head coach. Payton dialed up blitzes nonstop and really punished the 49ers QBs. There was some speculation that Peyton was mad that Harbaugh broke etiquette and did not call him before the game. I think Payton is just a royal Dlelta Bravo. Given the way, the 49er oline played last week with poor blocking and even worse assignment soundness my only thing I want out of this game is to have the QBs come out of the game healthy
Wow! 1.6 Patriot. You said it right. We want our Qb’s to come out alive. We don’t want a repeat performance of the NFC game where we lost all our QB’s. So those backups better step it up. Hey, Jack. What’s the update on Elijah Mitchell’s usual injury?
Any last minute news as to whether BP will play a series or two?
Looks like T. Charlton has been placed on IR and Laborn was released.
I’m surprised about Laborn. Placing Charlton on the IR during camp I think means he will be available after the 4th game.
After they signed him and Awatt, a look at he available YouTube video didn’t show much to wow at. So I’m surprised based on some TC hype about him but not completely surprised.
CMC, Mason, TDP and a healthy Mitchell makes for a pretty darn-good RB stable. I would challenge any team to show me a better group of RBs.
There’s also a chance that if Laborn is not scooped up, he could be signed on the PS.
I’m interested in watching Dee Winters and Jalen Graham today. One of these two might make the 53R.
That said, I’m not touting any player tonight like I did Money Moody last week, lol.