Were quarterback injuries just bad luck for 49ers?

The San Francisco 49ers quarterback room could not stay healthy in 2022. Kyle Shanahan’s team fought through injuries to Trey Lance and Jimmy Garoppolo during the regular season to reach the playoffs. In the NFC championship game, an injury to Brock Purdy on the first series finally ended their hopes of reaching the Super Bowl.

Quarterback injuries are nothing new for the 49ers.

Kyle Shanahan has lost at least one starting quarterback to injury in five of his six seasons at the helm in San Francisco. The lone exception coming in 2019 when Jimmy Garoppolo was able to stay healthy on the way to a Super Bowl berth.

In the first couple weeks since the 49ers loss to Philadelphia ended their season, the offensive line has gone under the microscope. It makes sense, the general belief is if you can’t keep your quarterback healthy it must be from poor pass protection.

Does that hold up when looking at the injuries suffered by each starter?

Trey Lance

On the 49ers second offensive possession in week two against Seattle, Kyle Shanahan calls “Counter Bash”. This is a zone-read running play which requires the quarterback to read a defensive player and either hand it off to the running back or hold on to the ball and run himself.

Trey Lance makes the correct read to keep the ball and run to the right side. The hole is there, but Trent Williams gets hung up by the pile created when Mike McGlinchey drives the Seahawks defender to the ground. This ruins the timing of the play and Trey Lance gets caught up behind Williams. With his momentum slowed, Lance is unable to get to the opening on the right side before hie is hit by the linebacker.

Lance suffers a broken ankle on the play and is lost for the remainder of the 2022 season.

Jimmy Garoppolo

Facing third and six on the 49ers opening offensive possession against Miami, Kyle Shanahan dials up a pass with five-man protection.

The Dolphins show blitz with four to the right and three to the left pre-snap. This look results in the 49ers sliding their protection to the right leaving an unblocked rusher on the left side. Garoppolo see’s it and looks to his hot read, Deebo Samuel, but the receiver still has his back to the quarterback.

Instead of throwing the ball at Samuel’s feet for an incompletion, Garoppolo retreats, allowing Jaelen Phillips to get up the field and eventually land on the quarterback’s foot as he brings him down for the sack.

Brock Purdy

Kyle Shanahan dials up play action with Christian McCaffrey going into the left flat and Brandon Aiyuk running a rail route on the left side as well.

In an effort to match play action with the run game Shanahan tasks Tyler Kroft with blocking Reddick one-one-one. That’s a massive mismatch. Reddick gets to Purdy, hitting the quarterbacks throwing arm leading to a fumble.

Shanahan tried to give Kroft help by sending Deebo Samuel on orbit motion behind the quarterback towards Reddick. The motion doesn’t slow Reddick down because that’s not his responsibility. Eagles linebacker Kyzir White (#43) is responsible for Samuel here and is in good position.

Another piece of this play is the timing of the throw. As Purdy hits the top of his drop Aiyuk is still in the vertical stage of his route. Purdy starts his throwing motion just after Aiyuk gets to the outside shoulder of the defensive back.

Using slow developing play action passes against an attacking front like Philadelphia while also asking a backup tight end to block one of the most dangerous pass rushers in the NFL was a poor plan.

For comparison, here is how Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid dealt with the Eagles pass rush during the Super Bowl.

Like San Francisco, the Chiefs used play action early against Philadelphia with a tight end asked to block Hasson Reddick. However, there was a major difference. Instead of leaving Noah Gray alone on Reddick, Reid gives his backup tight end help from right tackle Andrew Wiley. Over the course of the game Reid never asked the tight end to pass block without help from a running back or a tackle.

Kyle Shanahan should spend some time this offseason studying Reid’s pass protection schemes. In ten seasons with the Chiefs his starting quarterbacks have missed a total of four games due to injury. Alex Smith missed one over the first five seasons, and Patrick Mahomes has missed three over the last five.

This article has 24 Comments

  1. “Using slow developing play action passes against an attacking front like Philadelphia while also asking a backup tight end to block one of the most dangerous pass rushers in the NFL was a poor plan”

    “Kyle Shanahan should spend some time this offseason studying Reid’s pass protection schemes. In ten seasons with the Chiefs his starting quarterbacks have missed a total of four games due to injury.”

    Although I agree with the above and good advice for our HC, QBs still do get hurt, part of the game. PM was playing hurt. Just seems with KS its hurt qbs all the fricken time.

    There has been only one season (2019) where the ending was a SB and did not end because of an injured QB

  2. People think in absolute outcomes. It’s about probability. The less you expose your QB the less of a chance he gets injured. Do QBs get hurt in the pocket? Well…duh! A good QB is paid $25M+ He’s also the most important part of an offense. So why expose him? Can you generate offense by running a QB? Sure. But why risk it? It seems to me that the move towards mobile QBs, Read Options and RPOs are an acknowledgement that there just aren’t coaches around anymore to find and develop Pro style QBs (in fact Kyle’s heavy reliance on play action is another acknowledgement). It’s easier to manufacture an offense with an athletic QB. Some QBs develop….Andy Reid seems to have developed Mahomes into a passer as well as a mobile gadget QB. But over all if teams continue to lean on using athletic QBs in their offense then they’re going to have a tough time developing that QB into a true pro style QB. And sometimes the game still comes down to the QB dropping back, reading the field, being in sync with the receivers and passing the ball accurately to the appropriate receiver.

  3. Hey, man! Long time no hear, Allforfun! Initially I thought it was McGlinchey who blew the protection on the Purdy play. He’s definitely the weak link on the line. It did improve over the season, but Kroft blocking Reddick was a tall order. Good blocker or not. It was a bit of a fluke to be such a terrible injury, but Purdy was not protected well on that play.

    Garoppolo’s injury is just another case of Jimmy being very bad at feeling pressure and avoiding it. Purdy has been in the league 1 season and he reacts worlds better than Jimmy G to moving out of harm’s way, throwing on the move, and generally extending plays.

    Lance’s injury is the biggest pisser to me because EVERY 49er fan was screaming STOP RUNNING HIM UP THE MIDDLE! RPO or not, Shanahan even said “I’m not gonna use Lance like Lamar Jackson. It’s too dangerous.” Then he runs him up the middle 3 times in the 1st quarter against Seattle till he gets hurt.

  4. Only Lances injury could be attributed to a running quarterback. The other two had nothing to do with running. I think the reason we are seeing more running quarterbacks in the NFL has to do with what’s coming out of college. The pure passing talent just isn’t there. Most colleges no longer run an NFL style passing game.

      1. Kyle likes running QBs because it creates a nightmare matchup for the D — One more person to defend. He uses runs to set up a deeper, more dynamic passing game. I assume this is common knowledge at this point.

        Trey is running a lot because he’s still a better runner than a thrower — The 49ers were averaging something like 6.5 yards per run for that first game and a half. .

        Also, Hurts, Allen, and Jackson all run up the middle a lot, like 30% to 50% (see PFF stats, its well-charted) — not running him up the middle is like tieing an arm behind Trey’s back. His broken leg was a freak injury. Stop trying to blame someone and get over the fact that injuries are pretty random, though some QB’s seem more prone than others — For example the two most injured QB’s longish-time starters over the last few years are Burrow and Jimmy G.

  5. The difference between Lance and those QBs who run up the middle and stay healthy is….. Those other QBs are running thru gaps. Lance was trying to run thru a clogged middle. The 9ers OL does not open holes consistently. So should Shanahan have recognized that and ran Lance on the perimeter more? Yes. So I guess you can spread blame around KS, O line and yes luck. I asked in an earlier post was JG injury prone while Lance’s injuries were KS’s fault or are both players injury prone or lastly did KS get both QBs injured. Remember only one of Lance’s 3 injuries came on a running play the other 2 came in the pocket.

  6. The Purdy injury was a result of poor pass protection, of Kyle’s insistence that his QB’s should be tough, hang in there under pressure and deliver the ball to the correct read while under fire (I’ve heard Kyle articulate this multiple times the last few years), and of the rookie Purdy holding the ball beyond the timeframe the blocks were designed for, though he was just a tick late, against the Eagles’ D, that was enough. People blame Kroft too much, he didn’t slow his man down much but it was Reddick, and McGlinchey’s man beat him nearly as badly, would have gotten to Purdy immediately if Reddick didn’t beat him to it, and/or McGlinchey would have been correctly called for holding.

    On Lance’s injury, it was a chain of events that started with the o-line. Niners seem to love these run-blocking schemes where they block men from another gap, sideways, catching them off balance. Works well, but bodies go flying in unpredictable ways that are more likely to cause injury. In this case, however, the sideways block from McGlinchey (well executed) pushed both of them sideways in a pile where Trent Williams was supposed to run. Trent ran around the pile, arriving a little late to the gap he was supposed to clear. Trey probably should have been patient and stayed right behind Trent anyway, just for safety’s sake, instead Trey made a cut to Trent’s right and basically jumped the shark. In fairness, Trent being delayed gave Brendel’s man time to escape his block, Trent blocked nobody, and Trey had no good options. TL:DR this was a run blocking casualty that came as a result of an effective crossblock (I don’t know the actual terms for these things.) Maybe Trey could have slid, would take early recognition on his part to get down in time. and Shanahan seems to think he can plow through traffic, ugh.

    The Jimmy injury was from poor (no) pass protection. Maybe it’s true that the line shifted the wrong way, wasn’t obvious to me. I’ll assume Deebo was the hot read, since that’s where Jimmy looked, McCaffrey could have been the hot but was pretty deep for that purpose. If it was Deebo, at the very least, he has to either chip the unabated pass rusher coming through (he ran right by him, no attempt at engaging) and/or turn immediately to be available for an outlet pass (he didn’t even do that.) I could be wrong, but that seemed like an absolutely terrible play by Deebo. Hard to believe some blame Jimmy for this injury. He saw the unabated man right away, did the right thing and looked for Deebo, who wasn’t looking, boom, all over, no time whatsoever to do much else. Sure it would have been great if Jimmy had immediately thrown it to the ground. It was 3rd down, Jimmy’s a 3rd-down machine and didn’t want to bail on a likely TD drive by throwing it away, and would have had to have made that decision in a flash, maybe some QB’s (probably Brady) get that done in that timeframe but not many, the rusher was completely unabated.

    Nore generally, I think the cross blocking schemes we use cause numerous injuries, often knee injuries from knees getting knocked sideways, and should be looked at to see if the injury risk is worth it, especially to our o-line and our RB’s, that’s who usually get hurt by it. Add to that Kyle preaching hanging in there to make the throw when you’re going to be hit, putting all our o-line money into one great player rather than having a more balanced line with numerous well-paid effective if not great blockers, and the fact that none (Purdy may be the exception) of our QB’s have that magical instinct to avoid hard contact like some other QB’s (Brady, Mahomes, Russell Wilson in his prime) seem to have (either by sliding, throwing to hot, dumping off, or stepping up at the precise window moment), and yes our QB’s have a pretty good chance of continuing to get injured. And beyond the QB, the Niners’ emphasis on YAC also leads to more injuries. The injury history is no fluke, and has not returned to the mean (not even close) over the years Kyle has coached this team. , it’s time to look at every contributing factor.

  7. The NFL tries to protect QBs and kickers, who are in vulnerable positions as they execute. You can’t run into a kicker’s legs as he kicks. But you CAN whack a QB’s arm as he throws. It seems that Philadelphia trains pass rushers to whack the arm of a passer instead of batting the ball. That’s what happened to both Purdy and Johnson.

    1. Have said this sam repeatedly. Easiest way to win a game is eliminate QBs, two in this case.

    2. Have said this same repeatedly. Easiest way to win a game is eliminate QBs, two in this case.

  8. The 49ers should keep their eyes on T. Harris and T. Ward DEs on the Houston Roughnecks in the XFL

  9. Woulda’, shoulda’, coulda’…..you guys will never let it go…it’s the NFL…an organization with men that are very fast, very strong and extremely large….men are going to get hurt, it’s part of the game….time to move on

  10. But it’s so hard yet so tantalizing for some to want to place blame and at the same time confirm their ignorance.

  11. Regurgitated topic.
    Lance was an excellent running QB in college.
    It was always part of Shanahan’s offensive plan to use Lance’s running ability on certain plays.

    Sure, the chance of him being injured running into the teeth of the defense increases the possibility of an injury. But, it also helps to extend plays by picking up some yards for a first down or more.

    Lance was not injured by a tackle, he was injured when a 300 lbs Dlineman fell on his ankle. That type of freak injury could have happened with him throwing a pass and having a player land on his foot.
    It’s football.

    1. Totally disagree. Lance was an excellent running QB in college against competition where he was the biggest, fastest. baddest dude on the field. That’s not true in the NFL. You have plenty of evidence already that Trey isn’t Josh Allen or Jalen Hurts. Allen is a beast. Hurts rarely takes any big hits and he squats almost 600 lbs. Lance is a decent runner but he’s not built for inside runs. I’m not sure why that point isn’t obvious to everyone. Recall the goal line hit by Isiah Simmons? Simmons took a concussion on that play but he also knocked Trey Lance backwards. That doesn’t happen to Allen or Hurts. Also, the blocking design on the Lance injury play was terrible. Jake Brendel was expected to solo block Al Woods, who outweighs Brendel by 60 or 70lbs. Woods threw Brendal aside like he was an old T-shirt after a long run. Add in that Kyle called 4 or 5 interior runs for Trey already in that game, and the risk of injury to Trey Lance was near 100%. Lance wasn’t injured due to bad luck. Lance was injured because Kyle Shanahan played with fire one too many times.

      1. N D state ran a pro style offense. Lots of play action. Not a ton of designed runs.

        That was the mantra of Shanahan in 2021. That he WASN’T gonna use Lance like Lamar Jackson.

        he did and it cost him dearly.

  12. Were QB injuries just bad luck for 49ers?

    Trey Lance: Not bad luck. Terrible play design.
    Jimmy Garoppolo: Bad Luck compounded by JG holding onto the ball too long.
    Brock Purdy: Not bad luck. Bad play design.
    Josh Johnson: Not bad luck. Result of bad play design that injured Purdy and also poor play from an OG that shouldn’t have been in the game.

  13. QB injuries obviously derailed the season but another injury issue that should get a little more attention…

    Why can’t Elijah Mitchell stay healthy? Excellent RB who could be a great compliment to CMC but he can’t stay on the field.

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