Hit hard by injuries this summer, the 49ers‘ passing attack will be a shell of its optimal version Sunday. The 49ers declared George Kittle out Friday with a sprained knee. Kittle will not travel with the team to New York but will instead meet his teammates in West Virginia, where the 49ers will practice next week in between their road tilts against the Jets and Giants, Nick Wagoner of ESPN.com tweets. While the 49ers are expected to have first-round pick Brandon Aiyuk make his NFL debut, being down Kittle and top wideout Deebo Samuel (on IR) will not make matters easy for Jimmy Garoppolo.
Here is the latest from the NFC West:
- DeAndre Hopkins signed a lucrative two-year, $54MM add-on with the Cardinals add-on recently. He will go from earning $26MM through 2021 on his previous deal to making $42.75MM — all fully guaranteed — in that span, according to Albert Breer of SI.com (on Twitter). Hopkins’ $6.65MM 2022 base salary vests in March 2021, Breer adds. Signed through 2024, Hopkins will receive $60.1MM over the deal’s first three years — up from the $39.1MM he would have collected under the terms of his Texans-constructed contract. The final two years of Hopkins’ new deal — 2023 and ’24 — are option years, Breer adds (via Twitter).
- Despite eating a stunning $21.8MM in dead money from their Brandin Cooks trade, the Rams dived back into the fray of high-end receiver contracts. Their three-year, $47.25MM Cooper Kupp deal includes $35.1MM guaranteed and $20.3MM in full guarantees, according to OverTheCap. Woods’ four-year, $65MM pact, which comes with $32MM guaranteed, will only pay him $4.5MM over the next two years — which were part of his previous Rams contract. However, the deal’s first new year (2022) comes with $13.5MM, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets.
- More injury trouble for Dee Ford. The 49ers pass rusher is now battling a neck issue and is questionable for Sunday’s game. Ford, who did not practice this week, has run into extensive injury trouble during his time with the 49ers. He played through knee, quad and hamstring issues in 2019 and missed time during camp with a calf malady. The 49ers restructured Ford’s contract to create cap space; the move will make it more difficult for the team to cut or trade Ford in 2021.
- Mohamed Sanu‘s 49ers deal is worth a tad more than the veteran minimum. The former Bengals, Falcons and Patriots wideout signed a one-year pact worth around $1.125MM, Tom Pelissero of NFL.com tweets, adding that Sanu will receive a $137.5K bonus — despite being an in-season addition. Although the 31-year-old target struggled to assimilate in New England, he played under Kyle Shanahan with the 2016 Falcons.
- The Seahawks are still on the lookout for pass-rushing help. The team brought in former Chiefs second-round edge rusher Breeland Speaks for a recent workout, Field Yates of ESPN.com tweets. A 2018 draftee, Speaks could not make the Chiefs’ 53-man roster. He missed all of last season due to injury.
9’ers are beat up.
To put it mildly, sheesh!!
Richburg, Garland, Mostert (personal), Ford, Sherman, Deebo, Verrett, Hurd, Nelson, Austin, Aiyuk, Coleman, Richie James, DJ Jones, and Kittle will have ALL either missed one or both of their first two games, or they’ve been questionable, or significantly banged up, missing multiple practices..
Coleman with his sickle cell trait was significantly hindered Week 1, and Mostert will miss Week 2 due to the birth of his child.
The crazy thing is the 49ers still were in position to pull away from the Cardinals and win in Week 1. Although, due to some lazy penalties, and not taking advantage of easy opportunities, they allowed Murray and Hopkins to play catch all the way to a victory..
The 49ers have some excellent depth, but if the IOL and WR depth gets hit any further, they could really start to struggle week after week..
That’s all well and good but it’s basically excuses.
The FO has time and time again to spend and get a first rate WR plus add more talent to the OL, and that is blatantly inexcusable with all the $ they spend.
They can have all the defensive talent but JG is not the type to win when they get into a high scoring game. Have to get a WR that will just get the ball. Let Jimmy G experience playing catch during a game too.
Um, none of that was an excuse for anything. Nothing that bravesfan said was untrue, but you want us to just ignore it for some reason? He wasn’t saying the Niners would have won last Sunday, or even discussing the Cardinals vs. the Niners specifically. He was talking about their performance in relation to the team itself going forward and its’ current capabilities. That’s talking about the state of the team. Not sure what the point of saying it’s an “excuse” for anything. This is football analysis, not trash-talking at a bar.
I mean injuries happen. And coming as a fan of neither of the teams I am about to mention but last year Seattle had like 15 injuries at the end of last season including 4 of 5 starting offensive lineman, starting corner, a safety, a TE, two linebackers, and three running backs. But SF said that was just an excuse for their loss at the half-inch line.