49ers see their ‘best free agent signing’ come up huge in Week 7

49ers see their ‘best free agent signing’ come up huge in Week 7
Niners Nation Niners Nation

George Kittle had, until Sunday, played the role of spectator as the 49ers have made an impressive start to the 2025 season amid a catalogue of injuries to star players. He made his return in Week 7 to play a key role in a signature win arguably on a par with the Week 5 road victory over the Los Angeles.

Kittle’s play in the blocking game helped the 49ers thrive on the ground for the first time this season as they saw off the Atlanta Falcons 20-10 to move to 5-2. Despite his lack of impact in the passing game, his performance provided a reminder of what the 49ers have been missing with him on the sideline.

San Francisco’s win over Atlanta came after the biggest injury blow of the season for the 49ers, with an inexperienced defense shining against Bijan Robinson and Co. despite the loss of All-Pro linebacker Fred Warner to a fractured dislocated ankle in the Week 6 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Minus its two cornerstones in Warner and Nick Bosa, the 49er defense delivered its best performance of the campaign and, asked for the key reasons why San Francisco has thrived amid significant adversity this season, Kittle quickly pointed to the architect of that defense, whose constant presence in guiding his young group has been critical players on both side of the ball have gone down.

Kittle said:

“I think one, Mac Jones is a fantastic quarterback, the way that he’s stepped up when Brock has not been in and led this team to a bunch of victories has been incredible. He gets up a ton of times, stands right back up and delivers the next pass. That is one reason for our success is him. The other one is, I’ve said this since OTAs, Robert Saleh is the best free agent signing that we possibly got. The juice he brings every single day, how smart he is, the way that he game plans, how he sets guys up for success, puts guys in positions to succeed, how he calls the Blitzes on the right time. He’s just such a good, good coach and I’m so happy that we got him back this year because he is a fire for our defense and he will be a fire for us. ”

Saleh’s blitzes were crucial to the 49ers beating the Falcons. Not typically an aggressive defensive play-caller, Saleh sent pressure on 10 of Penix’s dropbacks, per PFF. Penix attempted a pass on nine of those plays, completing just three passes for 26 yards.

The tally of 10 blitzes tied the season high for the 49ers, with their highest blitz rate of the year coming in Week 2 when San Francisco sent pressure 10 times on 39 total dropbacks against the New Orleans Saints.

It wasn’t the number of blitzes that made the difference for the 49ers, but rather the variety.

Saleh was willing to send both linebackers on blitzes, attack with an extra...