Can offense find weapons to be unstoppable?
SANTA CLARA — The 49ers had one of the NFL’s most efficient offenses in 2019 en route to winning the NFC Championship. They ranked third in scoring, eighth in overall yardage and fourth in yards per play.
But the passing game heading into the new season, if and when it happens amid the COVID-19 crisis, has areas to improve beyond the expected progression for Jimmy Garoppolo entering his second full campaign as the starting quarterback.
Garoppolo threw too many interceptions. Defenses caught 2.7 percent of his pass attempts, the eighth-worst interception rate among qualified quarterbacks. He was also sacked too many times. His 6.94 percent sack rate ranked 26th in the league. These issues showed up in the Super Bowl.
Part of the reason why: The offense lacked consistent checkdown options, which could be an area head coach Kyle Shanahan sees a significant upgrade in 2020 if two key players return from injury to their previous forms. It’s clear the next evolution
ary step in the offense is to be able to trust the passing game more.
Taylor and McKinnon give Garoppolo options — Slot receiver Trent Taylor and running back Jerick McKinnon could offer Garoppolo checkdown dynamics he lacked last season which may have factored into less-than-ideal interception and sack rates.
Taylor and McKinnon both missed last season due to injuries. Taylor before the preseason opener sustained a Jones fracture in his foot, which is currently what top
wideout Deebo Samuel is recovering from, and McKinnon spent his second straight season on injured reserve due to complications from the ACL tear that happened a week before the start of 2018.
Taylor had a series of complications, including an infection in his foot, that led to five procedures. McKinnon required a cleanup surgery at the end of last summer that cost him his second straight season since signing a four-year, $30 million contract with the 49ers in free agency in 2018. He reworked his contract this spring to return to San Francisco on a minimal oneyear pact.
Taylor looked like one of many fifth-round steals by the 49ers front office when he entered the league in 2017. He had 43 catches as a rookie, the same as tight end George Kittle that year, and was particularly good when Garoppolo became the starter over the final five games. He caught all 15 of his targets on quick-hitting slant routes for the year, according to Pro Football Focus, and converted over 80 percent of those receptions into first downs. He was one of Garoppolo’s preferred targets from the outset.
Taylor had back surgery following his rookie season and wasn’t the same player in Year 2. He had just 26
catches for 215 yards when Garoppolo was lost Week 3 to his torn ACL. Taylor’s snaps went down from 494 to 321 from his first to second season.
He returned to have a strong training camp and earned sky-high praise from Shanahan for his work on the practice field before the foot injury derailed things.
“He looked better than the player he was in 2017,” Shanahan said in September. “He was having the best camp of anyone on our offense. That’s why (the foot injury) was real unfortunate for him.”
McKinnon eyes a comeback — Meanwhile, McKinnon has been training hard this offseason after being medically cleared since late last fall. The extra time off was designed to give him a better chance at being 100 percent for the upcoming season rather than risking playing hurt in 2019.
McKinnon’s pass catching was a major draw for Shanahan in free agency and proved to be a key part of his game during his first training camp in 2018 before he got hurt. McKinnon lined up all over the field and proved to be a tough matchup for linebackers and defensive backs, given his speed and agility. He was on track to be among the team’s leaders in touches, hence the big contract.