Add The California Post on Google Kyle Shanahan doesn’t like tough decisions, at least not when it comes to the position battles that will determine the 49ers’ roster.
To that end, San Francisco’s preseason finale Thursday night was a productive one.
“I like when guys make it real obvious when you have a position battle,” the head coach said after his team’s 18-12 exhibition win over the Raiders in Las Vegas. “I think guys did some stuff today to make that easier for us.”
Shanahan and general manager John Lynch will have approximately 66 hours between the final whistle Thursday night and Sunday’s 3 p.m. deadline to set their 53-man roster.
Here’s what they’ll see when they pore over the tape from the final exhibition game:
Christian McCaffrey, like most of the Niners’ starters, didn’t suit up against the Raiders, but there’s no reason to believe he won’t be ready to play Week 1 against the Rams.
Even if that weren’t the case, Shanahan should still be feeling confident in his ground game. And that’s a good thing because if McCaffrey is the Niners’ most important player, his backups aren’t far behind, given his checkered health history.
Depth here was a real question mark midway through training camp, when all four of their top backs were sidelined. But Kaelon Black has run well since returning last week, and Jordan James looked explosive in his debut Thursday night with eight carries for 35 yards, including a 17-yarder up the middle, while also turning a screen pass into a 20-yard gain.
Shanahan said he was “really excited” to see James, who missed most of his rookie season with a broken finger and a knee injury, and thought he ran “real hard” and “real well.”
Pretty good stuff from somebody shaping up to be third on the depth chart, behind McCaffrey (obviously) and Black, the 90th overall selection in this year’s draft who started and hit the showers after four carries for 28 yards on their opening two drives.
“We drafted these guys for a reason,” offensive coordinator Klay Kubiak said. “These [are] young backs who we’re real excited about.”
For that matter, they’ll have two NFL-caliber running backs on the practice squad in Khalil Herbert and Sincere McCormick if another team doesn’t scoop them up on its 53. Herbert took the lion’s share of the carries in the second half and racked up 39 yards on eight attempts.
It’s a different story in the passing game, where injuries to Ricky Pearsall and Christian Kirk have already thinned the Niners’ ranks. Jordan Watkins seems assured to make the Week 1 roster but didn’t look like an NFL-caliber receiver for most of the night.
He ended with a team-high 64 yards on four catches but missed four targets, including two incompletions from Mac Jones where he wasn’t looking for the ball.
The 20-yard screen to James was set up by Carver Willis, who started at left guard for the second week in a row and played well. If the fourth-round rookie out of Washington hadn’t already wrapped up the starting job, he might have against the Raiders.
It’s not too hard to read these tea leaves: his competition, second-year lineman Connor Colby, started again at right guard, ceded snaps at left guard to Nick Zakelj and was still in the game deep into the second half, while Willis rested comfortably on the sideline.
While a decision has yet to be made, Shanahan said, “I think [Willis] is making a push.”
It was somewhat of a shock to see Alfred Collins and CJ West, among the few potential Week 1 starters to suit up, still getting into their three-point stances well after halftime. But it was equally shocking the way both interior linemen were getting manhandled by the Raiders’ guards.
Mike Washington Jr. gashed the Niners for 49 yards on eight carries, much of it up the middle against Collins and West, whom Pro Football Focus graded as two of the 49ers’ bottom three defenders. Fellow defensive tackles James Thompson Jr. and Evan Anderson rounded out the bottom four PFF grades, illustrating a troubling theme so far this preseason.
In their first exhibition, the Titans tore them up for an average of 5.4 yards per carry. Things improved last week against the Chargers. But once again the Niners struggled to contain the run game, and it all starts inside, where Collins and West look out of shape.
Collins was limited this offseason by shoulder surgery, and West missed time in camp with a concussion. That’s why both were still on the field with the reserves, according to Shanahan, but it puts them in a potentially concerning position heading into their showdown with the Rams.
How new defensive coordinator Raheem Morris chooses the linebackers to surround Fred Warner and Dre Greenlaw has been one of the most interesting and confounding questions of camp. Finally, some answers began to reveal themselves in the preseason finale.
Despite practicing this week, Garret Wallow didn’t suit up and afterward Shanahan praised him for “a hell of a camp,” as good a sign as any the sixth-year veteran has locked up a roster spot.
On the flip side, Deion Jones, the former Pro Bowler brought in this week, didn’t get into the game until the second half and played mostly with third- and fourth-stringers. Despite his long history with Morris, maybe the 31-year-old isn’t such a sure bet to make the roster.
With Luke Gifford (hamstring) still sidelined, rookie Jaden Dugger remains the proverbial favorite to start alongside Warner and Greenlaw as he has at the strong side spot for every preseason game. If he’s made one thing clear this preseason, he will make his presence felt on the field, for better or worse.
It’s almost hard to fathom that there was a competition when camp began.
Because this much has become undeniable after three preseason games: The 49ers seriously upgraded at punter with Corliss Waitman over Thomas Morestead.
The lefty from Belgium booted three balls inside the 20, averaging 46.5 yards on his four punts. He also went 3-for-4 on punts inside the 20 against the Titans and averaged 46.6 yards on his 13 total punts this preseason, a truly booming performance.
Waitman won the job by default when the 49ers cut Jack Bouwmeester before their first preseason game. Now, it looks like he could be one half of one of the better special teams duos in the league with Eddy Pineiro, who was unemployed before the Niners signed him in Week 2 last season.
Pineiro was money on all six field-goal attempts against the Raiders and is looking to be worth every penny of the four-year, $17 million extension he signed going into this season.
