49ers film room: preseason week 1 stock raisers
It's preseason, we can either choose to learn a lot, or choose to learn very little.
With week one of the preseason wrapped up, we got our first glimpse into the depth chart and projected backups heading into the rest of the preseason and into week one of the regular season. There weren’t too many surprises if you know who to follow in 49ers media during training camp and whose reports you can trust and those who you cannot. As for the game itself, it was pretty uneventful with the 49ers losing 17-13 to the Tennessee Titans in Nashville.
We learned after the game that the 49ers would be canceling their joint practices with the Saints this week after the team has suffered numerous injuries to backups and depth pieces. Kyle Shanahan did not feel they could properly field teams to compete against the Saints in practices that were set to take place in Southern California in Irvine so the practices were scrapped.
Nonetheless, as you can imagine, most of the first team offense that finished last season and none of the first team defense played in the game with the exception of offensive linemen Aaron Banks and Colton McKivitz, and rotational players Kevin Givens, Ambry Thomas, and Ji’Ayir Brown on defense.
As far as the quarterbacks are concerned, Brandon Allen started the first half and Josh Dobbs played the entire second half. Which one is winning the QB2 battle is anyone’s guess but if I had to guess after week one, it’s likely Josh Dobbs. Nonetheless, let’s move on with the risers in week one.
Malik Mustapha
Defensive coordinator Nick Sorenson had nothing but praise for Malik Mustapha in his weekly press conference. When asked about what he saw from Mustapha on film, he responded with the following:
“Someone who cut it loose the entire game and played physical. The stuff that we saw on tape in college, why we loved him, really a violent player. He played smart too, as far as being able to communicate, being in the right spots, that he didn’t hesitate and played with the violent finishes that you saw and everyone saw. It was really cool. Really, he had a good game.”
The rookie played 46 snaps on defense in his preseason debut with 31 snaps coming at free safety and 13 coming at strong safety. He also played 10 snaps on special teams. He’ll likely slot in as a box safety/strong safety primarily but with the way the 49ers interchange their safeties in the scheme, he could just as easily find himself in the deep half or deep third.
Mustapha was best known for his tackling ability coming into the draft and it showed on Saturday night in several plays.
On this first play above, the Titans only gained three yards after a tackle by Mustapha. Without seeing the play, you’d think he was playing somewhere around the line of scrimmage as a spill or force defender in the run. But nope. Mustapha is lined up in the deep middle of the field as the free safety 15 yards deep pre-snap.
The defense is in man coverage cover-1 with cornerback Ambry Thomas as the force corner. Thomas ends up getting blocked 20 yards downfield, leaving linebacker Dee Winters to replace him as the force defender where he ends up missing the tackle. Winters was up and down all game. The Titans only needed two yards to gain a first down here but Mustapha shot downhill in a burst of power and speed and made the stop for a three yard gain.
His next splash play was a 0-yard gain at the goal line on 4th down.
He comes from depth again, this time at about 8 yards (5 yards deep into the end zone) and prevents the Titans from gaining a first down on 4th-and-1 from the two yard line. The edge of the defense plays “heavy” into the C and B gap, allowing Mustapha to shoot to the edge for the stop, meeting the running back on the perimeter about one yard behind the line to gain.
If Talanoa Hufanga can’t go in the early part of the season, expect to see a lot of Mustapha.
Dominick Puni
Dominick Puni had a solid game filling in for Spencer Burford and John Feliciano at right guard. He has also been challenging for the starting right guard spot in training with several reports confirming that he’s taking reps with the first team.
I was shocked at his low Pro Football Focus (PFF) grade and thought that the tape definitely didn’t match the grade. His passing game snaps were solid and the PFF grade mostly matched what the film showed.
In the video above, he displayed several positive traits: the ability neutralize pass rushers with a well-timed punch to the upper chest/neck, stunt recognition versus an overload front, the patience to let the pass rusher declare his move before reacting and allowing himself to neutralize the the rush, using “bait” technique to get the rusher declare his intent before latching on and yanking him down (savvy veteran move similar to Trent Williams).
In the running game Puni moved decently well and had some key blocks in the first half despite grading terribly low by PFF. For what it’s worth, I don’t think the PFF grade for his run blocking snaps reflects how he played in this phase of the game.
Either way, he showed he can take decent angles and get to his landmark. And he didn’t lose a run game block on the first drive.
His worst run game snap, in my own opinion, came before the touchdown and it wasn’t a rep he necessarily lost either in that his defender didn’t make the play. But it also wasn’t a great rep and I think it actually redirected the running back.
Puni’s technique suffers the second he stands up too high. His arms should be inside on the chest plate of the defender but he wraps them around the defender instead. He anchors but he’s in the back field immediately and Mason has to redirect his path.
I think he was severely downgraded for the next snap below, after running back Cody Schrader came into the game. This is where I quibble with PFF’s methodology on most everything. I do not believe they can account for scheme or specific assignments and I believe this is a play where the 49ers offensive line coaches wouldn’t grade Puni poorly anyways.
The offense is running outside zone to the strong left side and Schrader actually gets a nice wall of blockers. Puni has to reach the second level linebacker but can’t quite get there and that defender makes the play. At first glance that looks like a bad rep.
But from the sideline angle and behind the offensive line angle show that Schrader should have cut this run almost immediately off of his backside blockers leverage since that’s where his read on outside zone would take him with the defenders front side flashing in their gaps. As a result, it looks like Puni can’t get to the 2nd level in time and can’t make the block on the defender who eventually brings down the ball carrier.
But that should be a negative play on Schrader, not Puni. Either way, we’ll never know for sure which plays he was truly downgraded for as PFF isn’t really transparent about their grading process in this area.
When asked about how he thought Puni played overall, offensive line coach Chris Foerster stated:
“Good. He’s played well. He’s kind of been consistent throughout, the way he started camp and has continued to work every week. He’s been a pretty consistent performer. Everything we saw him do in practice, he did in the game.”
Quarterback Josh Dobbs
Backup quarterback Brandon Allen started the game as QB1 with Brock Purdy inactive but it was Josh Dobbs who I felt did the better quarterbacking of the two. Both quarterbacks played one full half but Josh Dobbs showed why he could very well end up as the backup quarterback this season. I’m not sure Kyle Shanahan sees it that way, but you never know.
Of the two, I thought Dobbs looked more decisive with his throws, throwing with good anticipation and timing and working through his progressions. He seemed to know where the right answers were and got to them quickly, even if some passes fell incomplete or were tipped.
He hit a nice sideline far hash deep out in tight coverage on a 2nd and 19 pass that was maybe a tick late but the throw still beat the cornerback to the spot. On his drop back he confirmed the safety rotation to cover-3 and the safety rotating down to the flat behind a simulated pressure and the defensive end dropping to the weak hook zone where there was too much grass to cover.
With the free safety bailing to the middle of the field, the right throw is where he went after confirming that rotation and sim pressure. Throw away from the rotation. The throw was probably just a tick late and a few inches too high but it ends up making 3rd down a manageable situation instead of a third and long.
He also did a nice job throwing with pressure in his face and got an early fourth quarter touchdown drive started when he found Tay Martin on an alert corner route for a 17 yard gain.
The Titans are in cover-6 with cover-2/cloud coverage to the top of the screen, confirming to Dobbs to peak the corner and throw if it’s a viable option. The safety bails to the deep half and Martin flattens his route a bit as Dobbs throws a line drive into the cover-2 hole. He’s doing all of this as he’s about to take a shot from the right side as the right tackle got beat inside. He hung in and delivered the pass.
And some nice off script sack avoidance to find a target over the middle of the field.
Dobbs is nothing if not chaotic and has a never quit mindset.
His touchdown run showed this. While it was a good decision to scramble, where it gets dicey is when he dives head first for the goal line in a preseason game. That’s his mentality, to play like tomorrow isn’t promised.
Ultimately they failed on the two point conversion and Dobbs was unable to lead another scoring drive as that same mentality caused him to take a completely avoidable sack on 4th down where a throwaway doesn’t give the Titans offense 15 free yards. I still think he showed enough to overtake Allen on the depth chart.
In the next brief piece, we’ll cover some players whose stock should drop after this first week.