Back on Monday following Week 12, we wrote that
the 49ers were among the most brilliant teams in football for building a quarterback-neutral offense at the perfect time in NFL history. The loss of Garoppolo doesn’t change our belief in its potential successes. It only deepens our belief that this is true.
For the
Cliffs Notes version: At a time when attrition rates are high, teams are rarely starting their best 11 defenders, players are missing tackles at a higher percentage than ever and defenses are guarding against deep passes, leaving the check-down areas wide open for enterprising coaches and quarterbacks. The 49ers have assembled the best group of players to rack up yards after catch in the modern NFL. Deebo Samuel, George Kittle, Christian McCaffrey, Kyle Juszczyk and Brandon Aiyuk are all incredibly fast and incredibly physical, and they all
play multiple positions, which gives them a slight edge in creating openings to receive shorter passes out of the backfield.
The 49ers don’t ask their quarterbacks to do
nothing, but they do take an awful lot of the grunt work and leave it to their skill-position players.