The chart shows the 49ers’ superb struggles in terms of the offensive stats they are known for originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
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If there’s one thing the 49ers have done notoriously well in the Kyle Shanahan era, it’s rack up yards after the catch.
San Francisco, with its plethora of offensive weapons including running back Christian McCaffrey, tight end George Kittle and receivers Deebo Samuel, Brandon Aiyuk and Jauan Jennings, has been so good in recent years at accumulating extra yardage in through the air, whether because of Shanahan scheming them into open space or their physical style of play leading to extra yards.
However, six games into the 2024 NFL season, the 49ers as a team surprisingly rank dead last in yards after catch (YAC) percentage, with 32.1% of their total yards coming through the air. after the capture point.
That means that of quarterback Brock Purdy’s 1,572 passing yards — the second-highest total in the NFL behind Seattle’s Geno Smith (1,660) — only 538 came after the catch. San Francisco’s 538 yards after the catch are seventh in the league and its 4.4 yards after the catch per completion are third.
For context, the 49ers had 2,209 yards after the catch in 2023, which accounted for 50 percent of the team’s 4,384 total passing yards.
While the sharp decline through six games this season may be concerning, it’s also a byproduct of Purdy’s targeting and completing passes to deeper areas of the field this season, which often leads to fewer separation for receivers after the catch.
QB Rankings through Week 6
Brock Purdy comes in second overall. He leads the league in average depth of target (aDOT) and is second in CPOE (min 120 attempts). pic.twitter.com/zmTGa8R2kn
– SFdata9ers (@sfdata9ers) October 17, 2024
Concrete example.
It also doesn’t help that San Francisco has been without McCaffrey, the league’s best running back, in six games this season.
That’s not to say these numbers aren’t a little concerning, but it’s fair to assume things will progress toward average for the 49ers over the rest of the season.
