Golden Nuggets: What matchups are you looking forward to?

Dec 2, 2022 - 10:00 AM

49ers get positive injury news on multiple players ahead of clash with Dolphins

“While the likes of Kevin Givens, Hassan Ridgeway, J.T. McGill and others have performed admirably, none of them boast the pass rushing chops or double-team-eating capabilities that Armstead possesses. His return should create more pressure for 49ers team currently tied for eighth with 33 sacks on the season.”

Kawakami: How Kyle Shanahan builds his 49ers coaching staff and braces for more assistants getting hired away (paywall)

“But when you have a bunch of assistants who move on to bigger jobs, you will also always attract good young coaches because they know this is a place to grow and get noticed. It’s also a good spot for established coaches to drop right in and maybe win big. For instance, just like Ryans might’ve been the guy Shanahan had ready all along for whenever Saleh departed, this time around there is some sense that former 49ers DC Vic Fangio could be tapped to replace Ryans in 2023.”

Can 49ers’ defense rival 2019 prime? Test vs. Dolphins could provide the answer (paywall)

“That speaks to surging unit-wide contributions in run defense, a trend that’s reflected in efficiency splits and tackling scores. Ward owns the best Pro Football Focus run-defending grade of any NFL DB. The 49ers have PFF’s second-best cumulative tackling grade this season (they ranked No. 13 back in 2019). Their soundness here has led to an airtight No. 1 ranking in rushing production allowed in the open field (defined as 5 yards and beyond past the line of scrimmage).”

‘Jackrabbit’ Jenkins hops on board as 49ers’ secondary insurance

“The 49ers called Jenkins a lot this season as he went through physical therapy following an arthroscopic cleanup procedure on his ankle.... There was nothing more to the timing of Jenkins signing with the 49ers’ practice squad this week other than Jenkins finally felt the time was right. “They were calling me for a minute,” Jenkins said. “It was on me. I told them, ‘I’m not ready. I’ll let you know when I’m ready.’ ”

Dolphins offense vs. 49ers defense: If San Francisco can’t stop Mike McDaniel’s attack, can anyone?

“Since Warner arrived in San Francisco, opposing quarterbacks have had as much trouble finding affordable real estate as Bay Area residents themselves. The 49ers have allowed just 71 completions to the intermediate middle over the last five seasons, 15 fewer than any other defense. When passers have dared to throw to the golden middle against the Warner-led defense, the going’s been tough. The 49ers have forced the lowest expected completion percentage (56.5 percent) to the intermediate middle since 2018, the only defense under 58.0 percent.“

John Lynch responds to Raheem Mostert criticism of 49ers

“I got a lot of love for Raheem,” Lynch said. “You know, the only thing I — not take offense, but I take issue with is we’re always going to do the best thing for our players’ health....I think, not to get specific on that, there was a difference — there were a couple of opinions as there are, often on what’s the proper fix for an issue. The one that he took wasn’t the opinion that our doctors had and there were other doctors involved with that.

Greg Cosell discusses Deebo Samuel’s lack of production at WR so far this season

“Three guys can’t all have 130 targets, cause first of all this is not a big passing team in terms of volume. If they play the way they want to play, Garoppolo is going to have 30 dropbacks at most in a given game. This is not Chiefs where Mahomes has 45-48 dropbacks, that’s just the way they play. That’s not the way the Niners play. So, Samuel, Aiyuk and Kittle all each can’t have 10-12 targets every single week.”