MORSE: Week 4 Preview of San Francisco 49ers and other Patriots News
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The Patriots have another tough opponent this week in the San Francisco 49’ers. The Niners are coming off a tough last second loss on the road versus the LA Rams to drop their record to 1-2. The 49’ers have a history of being one of the most injured teams over the past 5 seasons and this year is no exception. The following players are on IR:
RB Christian McCaffrey
WR Ricky Pearsall
OG Jon Feliciano
LCB Ambry Thomas
RDT Kalia Davis
LB Dre Greenlaw (Listed as Out on Depth Chart)
The 1st Injury Report is out but the following players are expected to be Questionable for Sunday and should be monitored as the week goes on.
This group are listed as Did Not Practice on the Wednesday Injury Report:
OT Trent Williams (Illness)
WR Deebo Samuel (listed as Doubtful)
LB Dee Winters
RDT Javon Hargrave (expected to be put on IR)
Limited in Practice
TE George Kittle
Warren Sharp stated that the Niners, if healthy were a very good team and opponents should watch out. In 2023 they were the 4th healthiest team and took Kansas City to OT in Super Bowl LVIII.
Offense
| Starter | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | |
| QB | Brock Purdy Q | Brandon Allen | Joshua Dobbs | – |
| RB | Jordan Mason | Isaac Guerendo | Patrick Taylor | Christian McCaffrey IR |
| WR | Deebo Samuel D | Ronnie Bell | Ricky Pearsall O | |
| WR | Brandon Aiyuk | Chris Conley | ||
| WR | Jauan Jennings | Jacob Cowing | – | – |
| TE | George Kittle Q | Eric Saubert | Jake Tonges | |
| FB | Kyle Juszczyk | – | ||
| LT | Trent Williams | Jaylon Moore | – | – |
| LG | Aaron Banks | Spencer Burford | Nick Zakelj | – |
| C | Jake Brendel | Ben Bartch | Jon Feliciano IR | |
| RG | Dominick Puni | Spencer Burford | Jon Feliciano IR | – |
| RT | Colton McKivitz | – | – | – |
The 49’ers are the #3 Offense in the NFL despite missing key players. Mr. Irrelevant Brock Purdy leads the Niners. For those of you who don’t know what Mr. Irrelevant means, that is the moniker given to the last players drafted in that year’s draft class #262 in the 2022 Draft. Mr. Irrelevant Week has been celebrated since 1976. The events are held in Newport Beach California including a parade. Purdy’s rise from backup afterthought to starter and leader of the team taking them to the brink of a championship in Super Bowl LVIII Overtime loss is remarkable.
There’s nothing wrong with having the NFL’s #1 offense in 2023 and bringing everyone back in 2024, and that’s exactly what the 49ers are doing. QB, top 2 RBs, FB, top 3 WRs, TE, OL -> they are all returning. The injury bug has not been kind to SF early in this season. This season Purdy has thrown for 846 yards, 69 of 95 for 72.6 Completion% and 4 TDs to 1 Interception. That’s 280.7 yards per game.
With McCaffrey out Jordan Mason has filled in very well. Mason was signed as an UDFA in 2022 out of Georgia Tech. His college stats don’t jump out at you as he amassed 2,349 yards rushing in 4 years for a 5.2 YPC. In 3 games he has 324 yards rushing on 67 carries and a 4.8 YPC, 2 TDs, and 1 Fumble. Rookie Isaac Guerendo is another player that I thought the Pats might be interested in late in the draft, was taken by San Fran in the 4th Round (#129). He played 4 undistinguished years at Wisconsin then transferred to Louisville for his 5th year. Every college player was granted an extra year of eligibility because of COVID. He took advantage of this running for 810 yards on 132 carries (6.14 YPC), and 11 TDs. He also had 22 receptions for 234 yards. The 6’ 221 pound back ran a 4.33 40-yard dash and 6.93 3-cone drill at the combine. Fullback Kyle Juszczyk not only leads with thunderous blocks but has 6 catches in 9 targets for 65 yards in the 3 games this season. He is often used in motion to set up the Defense.
Brandon Aiyuk was almost traded to the Patriots, but he vetoed the trade by not agreeing to the contract offer from the Patriots. He re-signed with San Francisco as one of the highest paid Wide Receivers in the league. Deebo Samuel is presently hurt, so who jumps up and fills the gap but Jauan Jennings the Super Bowl hero. Jennings is entering his 5th year and was a 2020 7th round selection (#217) by San Fran. The Tennessee product is 6’3” 212 pounds and ran an abysmal 4.72 40-yard dash at the combine. Despite this he is established as the #3 wide receiver on one of the top offenses in the league. In Super Bowl LVIII, Jennings caught 4 of 5 passes thrown to him and scored one TD. He also threw a 21-yard TD pass to Christiam McCaffrey. So far this season he leads SF in Receiving Yards (276) on 18 of 21 targets and 3 TDs in 3 games. That’s a 15.3 YPC.
Georgie Kittle has been nicked up and he is no longer the perennial Pro Bowl player he once was. That’s not to say he is ineffective; he still has 11 catches on 16 targets for 116 yards (10.5 YPC) and a TD.
The Oline was boosted by the return of Trent Williams who held out of camp over his desire to have his large contract re-written. With all the new money added to the salary caps around the league, the 36-year-old wanted to be the highest paid. He missed practice due to illness this week and is expected to play on Sunday. The 2010 1st round (#4) selection by Washington is a 3-time First Team All-Pro, 2-time Second Team All-Pro and 11-time Pro Bowl selection. At 6’5”, 320 pounds He is one of the most dominating linemen in the league. PFF has him graded out as the #1 or #2 OT in the last 5 years all with a grade above 90.
Aaron Banks is the Left Guard and the 6’5, 325-pound Banks was a 2021 draft selection in the 2nd round (#48) out of Notre Dame. He was ranked #21 by PFF last week and has started 30 of his 40 games in the NFL. At Center is Jake Brendel from UCLA. Brendel has bounced around the league since going undrafted in the 2016 draft. He has played for Dallas, Miami, Denver and Baltimore before finding a home with the 49’ers in 2020. Standing 6’4”, 299-pounds he is slightly underweight but has started in 37 straight games.
Right Guard is Dominic Puni a converted Tackle from Kansas. Puni was a player that I had my eye on for a possible late selection to double up at OT. San Fran selected him in the 3rd Round (#86) out of Kansas. Puni showed his versatility at the Senior Bowl playing both Guard and Tackle. His arm length isn’t ideal therefore Guard may be his best position in the Pros.
Colton McKivitz was a 2020 5th Round (#153) draft pick by San Francisco. McKivitz is 6’ 6”, 301 pounds and can play both Tackle positions. He was 4-year starter at West Virginia first at Left Tackle filling in for Yodny Cajuste as a Red Shirt Freshman and then switching to Right Tackle the next two years. He switched back to Left Tackle as a senior and made All-Big 12, Co-Offensive Lineman of the Year in Big 12, 2nd team All American by Walter Camp and 3rd team All American by the Associated Press. This past week he received a grade 67.7 good for 21st in the league among all Tackles. I was also intrigued by their backup Center Ben Bartch, another player I thought they should draft to groom a replacement for Andrews. Bartch played for DIII St. Johns (MN) and was a 2020 4th Round (#116) of the Jacksonville Jaguars. He is 6’6” 315 pounds and was invited to play in the Senior Bowl where he outshined many Power Five D1 players.
Defense Base 3-4
| Starter | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | |
| LDE | Leonard Floyd | Yetur Gross-Matos | Drake Jackson O | – |
| LDT | Maliek Collins | Kevin Givens | – | |
| RDT | Jordan Elliott | Javon Hargrave O | Kalia Davis IR | |
| RDE | Nick Bosa | Robert Beal Jr. | ||
| WLB | De’Vondre Campbell | Dre Greenlaw O | – | |
| MLB | Fred Warner | Curtis Robinson | Tatum Bethune | |
| SLB | Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles | Dee Winters Q | – | |
| LCB | Charvarius Ward | Rock Ya-Sin | Ambry Thomas IR | |
| SS | Talanoa Hufanga | George Odum | ||
| FS | Ji’Ayir Brown | Malik Mustapha | ||
| RCB | Isaac Yiadom | Darrell Luter Jr. | ||
| NB | Deommodore Lenoir | Renardo Green |
This might be the best Defense nobody knows about. The 49’ers Defense is ranked 16th in the league, allowing 23 points a game. That may be skewered by the Los Angelas Rams comeback last week to drop the 49’ers to 1-2. They will look to take this out on the Patriots anemic and predictable offense.
Left End Leonard Floyd is now 32 but still playing at a high level. Drafted by Chicago in the 2016 draft in the 1st Round (#9), the 7-year veteran had 10.5 sacks for Buffalo last season. He already has a sack this year but only 6 total tackles. Maliek Collins the LDT was also drafted in 2016 by Dallas in the 3rd Round (#67). The 6’2”, 310-pound DT has 25.5 career sacks. Jordan Elliott is listed as Limited and would jump in for Javon Hargrave at RDT if he can play. Elliott, the 6’4”, 302-pound DT was drafted by Cleveland in the 2020 draft in the 3rd Round (#88). He started 17 games in 2022 and 14 in 2023 for Cleveland but only had 21 tackles last year. If Elliott can’t go the 49’ers will be down to Kevin Givens. Nick Bosa is the one player you must account for on the San Fran defense. He will line up all over the place, especially on passing downs. Bosa was a 1st Round (#2) 2019 draft choice out of Ohio State. The 6’4” 266-pound DE has 55.5 sacks in his career. He was the NFL Defensive Player of the Year in 2022, 1st team All Pro and 4-time Pro Bowl selection.
De’Vondre Campbell is the Weakside Linebacker. The 31-year-old was a 2016 4th Round (#115) selection by Atlanta. He has also played for Arizona and Green Bay before signing with San Fran this season. The 6’4”, 232-pound backer was a 1st Team All-Pro in 2021. Fred Warner is just 27 but has been named 1st Team All-Pro 3 times and was also selected as a Pro Bowl as well. In the 2018 Draft, he was selected by San Fran in the 3rd Round (#70) out of BYU. Warner leads San Fran in tackles through 3 games with 20. Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles is the Strongside Linebacker and has played in all three games with just 3 tackles. He played 50 games for the Arizona Wildcats and amassed 242 career tackles. In 2019 he went Undrafted and signed with San Francisco and made the opening day roster. At his Pro Day the undersized 6’1.5” 205-pound linebacker ran a 4.58 40-yard dash. He is more like a strong safety in the box.
Charvarius Ward is the starting LCB. The 6’1” 196-pound corner went undrafted in 2018 and signed on with San Fran in 2022 and was selected as 1st team All Pro in 2023 and the Pro Bowl. Last week he received a very low 81 ranking by PFF. Tulanga Hufanga is the starting safety and missed last week’s game versus the Rams. He was missed. The 6’ 200-pound USC product was selected to the All-Pro and Pro Bowl teams in 2022. Hufanga was a 2018 draft choice by San Fran in the 5th Round (#118) in 2021. Ji’Ayir Brown starts at the other safety. At 5’11”, 212 the 2023 3rd Round (#87) pick by San Fran out of Penn State made the All-Rookie team. He was ranked 51 by PFF last week. Isaac Yiadom a 6’1” 188-pound RCB was a 2018 3rd Round (#99) selection by Denver in the 2018 draft. The former Boston College player has players for 5 other NFL teams before signing on with San Fran this year. He was ranked 51st by PFF after last week’s loss to the Rams. The Nickel Back is Deommodore Lenoir. He was a 2021 5th Round (#172) selection by San Fran. The 5’10” 200 DB has started 33 games in his career and received a 73 rank by PFF last week. George Odum played safety last week and received a 55 grade from PFF.
Special Teams
| PK | Jake Moody | – | – |
| P | Mitch Wishnowsky | – | – |
| H | Mitch Wishnowsky | – | – |
| PR | Jacob Cowing | Ronnie Bell | Ricky Pearsall O |
| KR | Ronnie Bell | Isaac Guerendo | Ricky Pearsall O |
| LS | Taybor Pepper |
Jake Moody is the player the Patriots wanted to draft in 2023. San Fran jumped the Pats and selected him in the 3rd Round (#99), and the Patriots panicked and took Chad Ryland in the 4th Round after trading up to get him. Ryland was a bust and is no longer in the league. Moody hit 84% of his FG tries (21-25) and 60 of 61 extra point tries. He then added 6 of 8 FG’s in the post season run to the Super Bowl. This year he is 7 for 7 and 4 for 4 on Extra points. Mitch Wishnowsky handles the punting. He is ranked 31st by Pro Football Reference. He has only had to punt 5 times in 3 games. Punt Returns are handled by Jacob Cowing who was sick today and missed practice. The backup receiver is ranked 19th with 4 returns for only 24 yards. Ronnie Bell is filling in for Deebo Samuel as the Kickoff Returner. He has no returns yet.
Patriots Overall PFF grades: Offense (min. 10 snaps)
Top 5
Bottom 5
Overall PFF grades: Defense (min. 10 snaps)
Top 5
Bottom 5
Pass protection grades (OL only)
Run-blocking grades (OL only)
Pass-rush grades (front-seven only, min. 10 pass-rush snaps)
Coverage grades (min. 10 coverage snaps)
Kyle Dugger also received a very high 72.7% lockdown rate which is 2nd in the league among all DBs. This rate excludes yardage given up to an opponent trying to prevent a first down. I find this curious, since I don’t believe that Dugger is very good in coverage. On the other side, Christian Gonzalez has unfairly not been given credit for holding down three top receivers in the first three games. Gonzalez limited Jamar Chase to 3 catches of his 6 when matched up one-on-one. The next week he had DK Metcalf. The TD was Kyle Dugger’s fault not his. According to NextGen Stats only 3 of his 10 catches for 24 yards were against Gonzalez. Thursday night he drew Garrett Wilson and limited him to 5 catches for 33 yards (6.6 YPC). PFF has a flaw in their evaluation system that only takes into consideration targets and receptions. Gonzalez hasn’t made many plays when he has been targeted and that is why his rank is #71. This week he gets no break with Brandon Aiyuk.
The Patriots could be looking at their 4th straight game with a different starting 5 on the Offensive Line. Both Caeden Wallace and Michael Jordan left last Thursday Night’s game with knee injuries. They were replaced by Demontrey Jacobs and Zach Thomas, players acquired at the cutdown waivers. Thomas actually received a pretty good grade from PFF of 69.9 overall and 74.4 Pass Blocking grade. Overall, Mike Onwenu had a 74.4 grade and Josh Uche led defenders with an 82.8. Perhaps the mini bye of playing on Thursday will help with some of the walking wounded. On the good news side, both Sidy Sow but Vederian Lowe was a DNP on Thursday. If Jacobs or Sow start on Sunday, this would be the 4th straight different Offensive line starting lineup. A line of Lowe, Sow, Andrews, Robinson and Onwenu would be their strongest lineup, but they have yet to be healthy enough to start together.
Players signed to Practice Squad
The Patriots filled both of the two openings on the Practice Squad by signing OT Jalen McKenzie and WR John Jiles. McKenzie, the USC product stands 6’5” and weighs in at 315 pounds. The 2022 UDFA spent the year on Tennessee Titans Practice Squad. He was cut at the end of Training Camp in 2023 and signed on with Las Vegas Raiders Practice Squad. He spent Training Camp with the Raiders but was a camp casualty on cutdown day. At USC he played both Left and Right Tackle. According to NFL Draftbuzz, “has the agility, technique, and size to contribute early in his professional career. Quick, active hands to latch on to defenders”. His foot speed is lacking as evident by his 5.32 40 time. He has no NFL game experience.
Jiles has freakishly long arms. He stands 6’2” 220 pounds and runs a 4.57 40-yard dash. Think Jakobi Meyers size. Jiles played for West Florida, a Division II team and had 66 receptions for 1255 yards and 16 TDs in 2023. He has a wide catch radius and is a natural hands catcher. One drawback is his inexperience against top competition and route running. A perfect prospect to take a chance on and see if he can develop.
Bentley to IR, Dugger named Captain
The Patriots officially added JuWhaun Bentley to the IR. In his stead, Kyle Dugger has been named a Captain. It was a bit of a surprise that Dugger wasn’t named Captain when the list came out earlier this season. The Patriots currently have one opening on the 53-man roster. Joe Giles-Harris was elevated for the game last Thursday and I would suspect that he will be elevated again this Sunday. Sione Takitaki is ready to come off PUP and would likely take Bentley’s spot in week 5.
Anfernee Jennings Ranked #1
He is the tope ranked Edge player at holding the edge against the run. We saw this last season when he filled in for Matt Judon. Strong against the run but he has not been able to generate when pass rushing. Josh Uche has been the top pass rusher when he plays on down and distance. As noted above Uche was the top graded Patriot last week by PFF last week. He was absent from practice earlier in the week but returned to practice on Wednesday.
Starting Left Tackle?
The Patriots have been beset with injuries and poor play at Left Tackle again this year. The expected starting Left Tackle against the 49’ers will probably be Demontrey Jacobs. The second year Undrafted Free Agent was claimed from Denver at the cutdown day. His 1st NFL experience was the last 12 plays of the game last week. The 6’6″ 315-pound Tackle from South Florida played his 1st three seasons of college ball at Grambling as a Defensive lineman. He spent last year on Denver’s Practice Squad. Since 2022, the Patriots have used 13 different Left Tackles.
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As I see it, (1) SF is functioning reasonably well on offense as their off-line is playing well as a unit and Purdy is putting up 280 yds/game while completing 72% of his passes. And that’s no matter if the 2nd string RB is in, or it’s Jujuan Jennings catching passes etc. The pats pass-rush isn’t good enough to derail SF and Purdy from putting up near 300 yds passing, and that said realizing 24 or more pts. Conversely (2) the pats offense is not functionally blocking to put up 24-30 pts and keep up with SF Do the math… Read more »