The Seattle Seahawks made the San Francisco 49ers look slow on both sides of the ball. The defense struggled to catch Kenneth Walker and Jaxon Smith-Njigba, while the pass catchers couldn’t escape Seattle’s secondary. Outside of a few routes, this was also true in the Wild Card round against the Philadelphia Eagles.
Head coach Kyle Shanahan was asked Wednesday if he thought improving the team’s speed was a priority this offseason, and if Shanahan felt like it was something the team needed more of moving forward:
“Yeah, definitely. I mean, being fast helps, being good helps. There’s a lot of ways to do it, but you’d like it to be perfectly balanced with your whole team offensively, defensively, with special teams. But we were noticeably slower this year than last year. Sometimes that replaces a better football player. That doesn’t mean you’re always worse off because of it. But you definitely need more speed to handle things week in and week out for some of the situations that come up against you. certain schemes and certain defenses, certain offenses too.
Earlier in the week we felt like one of the 49ers fatal flaws it was the team’s lack of speed. This response suggests that Shanahan agrees.
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Demarcus Robinson ran a 4.59 40-yard dash a decade ago at the NFL Combine. Kendrick Bourne ran a 4.68 40. Jauan Jennings, a 4.72. These are players who played a big role for the 49ers last season at wide receiver.
This is where inserting a player like rookie Jordan Watkins or if the myth of Jacob Cowing will make a difference. Ricky Pearsall has proven he can win on the ground, but when you fail to balance the field with multiple threats, your offense becomes easier to defend.
The 49ers were great at limiting explosive plays defensively, but that was more focused on down coverage than stopping their cornerbacks.
Deommodore Lenoir’s 40 was in the 64th percentile, but his 20-yard shuttle was in the 13th percentile, with a vertical jumper in the 29th percentile and a 3-cone in the 30th percentile. These numbers are not those of a high-end athlete. Renardo Green’s jumps were above average, but his 40 was in the 46th percentile. Ji’Ayir Brown’s 40 was in the 18th percentile.
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An infusion of athleticism at wide receiver and defensive back will go a long way toward improving the 49ers’ team speed this offseason.
