The San Francisco 49ers are similar to the Arizona Cardinals heading into 2022.
As the rest of the NFC West takes aim at the Los Angeles Rams, we continue to learn more about those said teams. This time, I sat down with Peter Panacy, the Site Expert at Niner Noise, to ask him about the polarizing 49ers.
The San Francisco 49ers season started opposite of the Arizona Cardinals, with a 2-5 record that somehow turned into an NFC Championship game appearance. It’s time to get into questions and what Panacy had to say about the Bay Area’s team.
1: After starting the 2021 season with a 2-5 record, was there any point during the season in which Kyle Shanahan was on the hot seat? How does Shanahan’s three losing seasons sit with GM John Lynch?
Panacy: I highly doubt it. The 49ers engineered extensions for both Shanahan and general manager John Lynch not that long ago, and it seems any reports of tension between the two were pure speculation.
Plus, Shanahan’s losing seasons in 2017 and 2018 kind of have an excuse with 2017 being a full-on rebuild year, then Jimmy Garoppolo getting hurt for almost all of 2018. 2020, of course, everyone was injured almost literally.
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Plus, I think CEO Jed York probably learned his lesson with all that coaching turnover from the middle of last decade, and that certainly didn’t sit well with the fanbase, season-ticket holders and big spenders.
2: Speaking of Shanahan, let’s talk about his offense. Specifically, how it involves WR Deebo Samuel; will Samuel’s request to be a “pure” wide receiver limit what Shanahan can do with the ground game that made Samuel famous? Or will someone like Brandon Aiyuk replace him in that regard?
Panacy: It’s weird because Samuel being a “wide back” is essentially what made him so unique last season. While it’s understandable he wants to be used less as a running back and more as a pure wide receiver; I’m sure there are going to be moments in games where he’ll want the ball in a crucial situation regardless of whether it’s through the air or on the ground. Kind of a give-and-take situation playing out there.
Aiyuk did a little bit of that in 2020, so it’s possible. Yet I imagine we’ll see a little more traditional deployments for Samuel instead of the 300-plus rush yards he had last season.