© Joe Maiorana-USA TODAY Sports
The benefit of winning a game early is that you can rest some of your starters and secure reps for your backups. That’s exactly what the 49ers did on Sunday, providing three players with their first defensive reps of the season after being limited solely to special teams in Week 1. Below is the full team snap count with percentages, followed by takeaways from the numbers.
Snap counts (snaps, percentage of total snaps)
Offense
Mike McGlinchey T 72 snaps, 100% – Special teams, 8 snaps, 26%
Weston Richburg C 72 snaps, 100% – Special teams, 8 snaps, 26%
Laken Tomlinson G 72 snaps, 100% – Special teams, 8 snaps, 26%
Jimmy Garoppolo QB 72 snaps, 100%
Mike Person G 66 snaps, 92% – 8 snaps, 26%
Joe Staley T 53 snaps, 74% – Special teams, 6 snaps, 19%
George Kittle TE 48 snaps, 67% – Special teams, 1 snap, 3%
Kyle Juszczyk FB 37 snaps, 51% – Special teams, 3 snaps, 10%
Marquise Goodwin WR 37 snaps, 51%
Dante Pettis WR 35 snaps 49%
Levine Toilolo TE 34 snaps, 47% – Special teams, 6 snaps, 19%
Raheem Mostert RB 34 snaps, 47% – Special teams, 4 snaps, 13%
Richie James WR 33 snaps, 46% – Special teams, 9 snaps, 29%
Deebo Samuel WR 29 snaps, 40%
Kendrick Bourne WR 23 snaps, 32% – Special teams, 14 snaps, 45%
Matt Breida RB 21 snaps, 29%
Justin Skule T 19 snaps, 26%
Jeff Wilson RB 15 snaps, 21% – Special teams, 12 snaps, 39%
Ross Dwelley TE 14 snaps, 19% – Special teams, 18 snaps, 58%
Ben Garland C 6 snaps, 8% – Special teams, 2 snaps, 6%
Defense
Tarvarius Moore FS 70 snaps, 100% – Special teams, 13 snaps, 42%
Ahkello Witherspoon CB 69 snaps, 99% – Special teams, 9 snaps, 29%
Jaquiski Tartt SS 55 snaps, 79% – Special teams, 8 snaps, 26%
Fred Warner LB 55 snaps, 79% – Special teams, 2 snaps, 6%
Richard Sherman CB 54 snaps, 77%
Kwon Alexander LB 52 snaps, 74% – Special teams, 1 snap, 3%
K’Waun Williams CB 50 snaps, 71%
Arik Armstead DE 43 snaps, 61% – Special teams, 13 snaps, 42%
D.J. Jones DT 37 snaps, 53% – Special teams, 13 snaps, 42%
Ronald Blair DE 35 snaps, 50%
DeForest Buckner DT 34 snaps, 49% – Special teams, 13 snaps, 42%
Solomon Thomas DE 33 snaps, 47% – Special teams, 4 snaps, 13%
Nick Bosa DE 31 snaps, 44%
Dee Ford LB/DE 25 snaps, 36% – Special teams, 1 snap, 3%
Sheldon Day DT 24 snaps, 34%
Jullian Taylor DT 21 snaps, 30%
Dre Greenlaw LB 20 snaps, 29% – Special teams, 23 snaps, 74%
Emmanuel Moseley CB 16 snaps, 23% – Special teams, 23 snaps, 74%
Azeez Al-Shaair LB 15 snaps, 21% – Special teams, 19 snaps, 61%
Antone Exum SS 15 snaps, 21% – Special teams, 19 snaps, 61%
D.J. Reed CB/FS 15 snaps, 21% – Special teams, 15 snaps, 48%
Mark Nzeocha LB 1 snap, 1% – Special teams, 22 snaps, 71%
Special teams only
Mitch Wishnowsky P 17 snaps, 55%
C Holba LS 10 snaps, 32%
Robbie Gould K 9 snaps, 29%
Takeaways:
- Dante Pettis took more snaps than Deebo Samuel but was silent in the offense aside from blocking and his one cross-field throw. To read a fuller breakdown of their involvement in the offense, click here.
- There a huge bump in snaps for Solomon Thomas, who took just 12 snaps last week. He runs with the second defensive line group, which to his credit, looked almost as impressive as the starters. It’s also worth noting that Arik Armstead led all defensive linemen with 43 snaps. He’s had a tremendous start and looks poised for a breakout season. Also along the defensive front, Dee Ford did not play in the second half with quadriceps irritation. That’s worth following this week; expect Thomas and Nick Bosa, who took 33 snaps this week, to see an uptick if Ford can’t go, or is limited against the Steelers. It’s worth remembering that the team has a Week 4 bye to get some additional rest for those nagging injuries.
- Tarvarius Moore was the most used player on the entire field, with a cumulative 83 snaps on defense and special teams. He was the only defensive player to play 100 percent of the team’s defensive snaps.
- Levine Toilolo was preferred over Ross Dwelley on offense by a significant margin (34 snaps to 14 snaps), which may have been a factor of the effective ground game and Toilolo’s massive, 6’8″ frame and blocking ability. Both continue to be used to limit George Kittle’s snaps on special teams, where he took his first of the season this week. He had the highest offensive snap count outside of Jimmy Garoppolo and the offensive line.
- Matt Breida took only 21 snaps, a shockingly-low number considering the fact that he ran for 121 yards. It’s clear that Raheem Mostert is preferred in the pass game, and with Jeff Wilson’s bigger frame and power style, the 49ers will continue to rotate their running backs, especially with Tevin Coleman still out.
- Azeez Al-Shaair took snaps at linebacker for first time on defense, as did Antone Exum and D.J. Reed at strong safety and cornerback, respectively. All three players were limited solely to special teams duties in Week 1.