{"id":13704,"date":"2024-11-29T15:21:24","date_gmt":"2024-11-29T15:21:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=13704"},"modified":"2024-11-29T15:21:24","modified_gmt":"2024-11-29T15:21:24","slug":"should-49ers-play-with-an-eye-toward-next-season-they-are-already-doing-that","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=13704","title":{"rendered":"Should 49ers play with an eye toward next season? They are already doing that"},"content":{"rendered":"
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SANTA CLARA, Calif. \u2014 Play the rookies! Sit the veterans! Start thinking about next year!<\/em><\/p>\n

That\u2019s the refrain of a growing segment of fans tired of watching their team sleepwalk through the season. Sunday\u2019s loss in Green Bay, which the San Francisco 49ers began like a neophyte ice skater taking his first wobbly steps onto the rink, sealed it for a lot of observers: This year\u2019s squad can\u2019t get it going and is not a serious contender.<\/p>\n

The 49ers, of course, don\u2019t see it that way.<\/p>\n

They note their still-hanging-around status in the NFC West and think there\u2019s still plenty to play for this season.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the vibe\u2019s probably a lot lower outside of this locker room than it is in,\u201d said Christian McCaffrey, a hint of defiance in his voice. \u201cOur team is hungry. We still have everything in front of us. And we\u2019re ready to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

GO DEEPER 49ers mailbag: Why not Josh Dobbs? What changes are looming this offseason?What\u2019s more, even if the 49ers acknowledged that the 2024 season is a wash and it\u2019s time to shift into next-year mode, there\u2019s not a lot of changes they can make that haven\u2019t already been done.<\/p>\n

Play more rookies? Three of them \u2014 Dominick Puni, Renardo Green and Malik Mustapha \u2014 started the recent game in Green Bay with another three serving backup roles and playing significant snaps. San Francisco rookies already have logged 1,993 snaps on either offense or defense this season. In 17 games last season, that figure was 673 snaps, more than half from safety Ji\u2019Ayir Brown.<\/p>\n

Maybe the \u201823-\u201924 comparison isn\u2019t all that impressive when you consider that one of last year\u2019s top rookies, kicker Jake Moody, only plays special teams and the 49ers didn\u2019t have any first- or second-round picks that season, either.<\/p>\n

But this year\u2019s 49ers, a team that at least began the season with Super Bowl aspirations, are on pace for more rookie snaps than any in the Kyle Shanahan-John Lynch era save for their first year in 2017. Back then they were very much in clean-house mode, ran into massive injury issues at midseason and played a lot of rookies on offense and defense. (You\u2019ll be forgiven if you don\u2019t remember the contributions of Cole Hikutini, Victor Bolden Jr. and Lorenzo Jerome that year).<\/p>\n

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Sit the veterans? There are already a bunch that have been sitting, leaning, using knee-scooters in recent weeks.<\/p>\n

Consider this: The 49ers have had 10 different players voted to the Pro Bowl over the last three seasons. Those players already have missed 34 games this season with that number certain to grow Sunday in Buffalo. The only two to have appeared in every contest so far: fullback Kyle Juszczyk and linebacker Fred Warner (more on him later). The fact that so many veterans have had to sit is largely why the rookies are playing so much.<\/p>\n

Still, there are a few things the team could do to shake things up and better prepare them for the 2025 season.<\/p>\n

1.<\/strong> Utilize Jacob Cowing, who is out of the concussion protocol after missing the game in Green Bay.<\/p>\n

The fourth-round receiver has been an exception to the team\u2019s rookie dependence. While Cowing has been the primary punt returner, he\u2019s played a scant 33 snaps on offense and has three targets in the passing game, all of them in the Week 7 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.<\/p>\n

Cowing, the 49ers\u2019 fastest receiver, can stretch the field horizontally and vertically and might be someone who can add some spark to the screens and end arounds that have largely been absent or ineffective this year.<\/p>\n

Tired of watching Deebo Samuel Sr. jog through the cheat-motion plays or get stuffed on outside runs? Why not give Cowing a shot? After all, he\u2019s Samuel\u2019s understudy.<\/p>\n

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It would make sense to start giving rookie receiver Jacob Cowing more opportunities. (Neville E. Guard \/ Imagn Images)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

2.<\/strong> Don\u2019t lean so heavily on McCaffrey.<\/p>\n

Shanahan \u2014 finally \u201a said this week what\u2019s been clear since running backs coach Bobby Turner started working with the Shanahans in the mid-1990s: They don\u2019t like to rotate runners.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not just a big three-man-rotation team, especially when you have a solidified starter,\u201d Shanahan said Wednesday. \u201cWe\u2019re not trying to get Christian off the field more. We want to keep him fresh and keep him at his best, but Christian\u2019s also a guy who gets better as he goes. He\u2019s a guy who feels a lot more comfortable being out there.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a legitimate reason. The problem this year, however, is that McCaffrey hasn\u2019t been the offensive elixir the 49ers were hoping he\u2019d be when he returned to the lineup. Two of the 49ers\u2019 worst rushing outings of the season have come in the last three games with McCaffrey getting the lion\u2019s share of the snaps in those contests.<\/p>\n

GO DEEPER 49ers fall apart in blowout loss to Packers: \u2018The worst I\u2019ve been a part of’Has that been McCaffrey\u2019s fault? No. But he also hasn\u2019t jump-started the offense, and the 49ers may soon reach a point when it\u2019s hard to defend McCaffrey getting all but a handful of snaps. The 49ers know what they have in Jordan Mason, who will be a restricted free agent after the season. More intriguing is rookie Isaac Guerendo, who was just beginning to find his zone-running stride when McCaffrey returned to the lineup.<\/p>\n

If the 49ers\u2019 top two tailbacks in 2025 are McCaffrey and Guerendo \u2014 and there\u2019s a decent chance for that \u2014 both might be better served by playing Guerendo more down the home stretch.<\/p>\n

3.<\/strong> Give Warner time to heal.<\/p>\n

No one deserves to wear the captain\u2019s \u201cC\u201d on his chest as much as Warner. He\u2019s the voice, spirit and soul of the locker room, something he\u2019s underscored by playing the last seven games with a broken bone in his ankle.<\/p>\n

GO DEEPER What’s wrong with Fred Warner? 49ers linebacker has been playing with a broken ankleWarner easily could have tapped out after Week 4, gone on injured reserve and allowed the injury to heal. It\u2019s obviously affected him. In Weeks 1 through 3, he seemed like the best defensive player in the NFL. Since the injury, he\u2019s looked like merely a pretty good linebacker. Like a true captain, he put the team ahead of his reputation and continued to play.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no easy solution to this one. Both of the 49ers\u2019 backup middle linebackers, Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles (knee) and rookie Tatum Bethune (knee) haven\u2019t practiced this week. Bethune is on IR with an MCL sprain. One solution might be practice squadder Jalen Graham, who trained at middle linebacker last offseason and preseason. Or perhaps veteran De\u2019Vondre Campbell Sr. has become comfortable enough in the defense to play in the middle. He has plenty of experience at that spot previously in his career.<\/p>\n

Either way, if the 49ers can\u2019t break out of their funk soon, it\u2019s going to be hard to reconcile seeing Warner \u2014 at what, 85 percent of himself? \u2014 leading the defense with a broken bone in his ankle.<\/p>\n

(Top photo of Ji\u2019Ayir Brown and Malik Mustapha attempting to tackle Dontayvion Wicks: Stacy Revere \/ Getty Images)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Matt Barrows<\/strong> is a senior writer for The Athletic covering the 49ers. He joined The Athletic in 2018 and has covered the 49ers since 2003. He was a reporter with The Sacramento Bee for 19 years, four of them as a Metro reporter. Before that he spent two years in South Carolina with The Hilton Head Island Packet. Follow Matt on Twitter @MattBarrows<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If the 49ers can’t break out of their funk, here are three maneuvers they should consider down the home stretch.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":13705,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[12],"class_list":["post-13704","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl","tag-san-francisco-49ers"],"yoast_head":"\nShould 49ers play with an eye toward next season? They are already doing that - NEWS USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=13704\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Should 49ers play with an eye toward next season? 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