The Weakest Link on the 49ers Defense

Till just a few weeks in the past, the 49ers protection had no weak hyperlinks.

It had 11 high quality starters. Each participant on the sphere was harmful. And so the 49ers had the No. 1 protection within the league.

Then Emmanuel Moseley tore his ACL in Charlotte.

The 49ers have suffered a lot of accidents on protection this season, however Moseley is the one participant up to now who will not return this season. And he was taking part in extraordinarily effectively earlier than he went down — he gave up simply 5.9 yards per goal and a passer ranking of 66.9. With him and Charvarius Ward on the sphere, the 49ers might play aggressive, bump-and-run man-to-man protection on the surface and drive passes to go over the center.

Not anymore.

Now the beginning corners are Ward and Deommodore Lenoir. And groups can keep away from Ward now, as a result of they aim Lenoir, who’s the weakest hyperlink on the protection. He would possibly as effectively have a large inexperienced gentle over his head when he is on the sphere.

To date this season, Lenoir has given up 26 catches on 35 targets (74.3 %), 8.7 yards per goal and a passer ranking of 100.4. To his credit score, he hasn’t given up a landing catch. however he additionally has damaged up only one go and intercepted none. He is taking part in extraordinarily conservative, tender protection, which means he is making an attempt to maintain the large receiver in entrance of him and never hand over large performs. As an alternative, he is giving up a lot of shorter catches and never placing up a lot resistance. He basically is content material to concede catches and make tackles. This will likely be an issue within the playoffs when the 49ers face offenses with severe firepower.

By then, the 49ers hope Jason Verrett can have returned from a torn ACL. And if he does, the 49ers as soon as once more can have no weak hyperlinks, as a result of Verrett is a superb participant. However he hasn’t returned but. He is nonetheless a large query mark.

If solely the 49ers had added a cornerback on the commerce deadline. Oh effectively.