Niners Nation
When you missed tackles, big plays happen, and you stay on the field. That was a major issue for the 49ers in 2024
The San Francisco 49ers' defense finished the 2024 season ranked 13th in schedule-adjusted efficiency. The first half of the season helped, as they were 22nd in weighted DVOA, which takes into account recent performance.
If we compare the 49ers' defensive performances from years past, they struggled mightily on a down-to-down basis. Nick Sorensen’s unit finished 21st in EPA per play allowed but a lowly 27th in success rate, which is, in my opinion, the best way to measure a unit as it tells you how they were on a down-to-down basis.
The Niners allowed a 45.6 percent success rate last year. That number was 42.5 percent in 2023 (13th) and 41 percent in 2022 (2nd). When you’re consistently trending in the wrong direction, a change has to happen.
Robert Saleh takes over for Sorensen. One thing we’ve associated with the Niners’ defenses over the years is their bully-ball mentality that coincided with sound tackling. That was not the case last season.
According to Next Gen Stats, they finished with the 19th-best tackling unit in the NFL. Nine of the top ten teams made the playoffs:
A unit led by Fred Warner usually doesn’t finish in the back half of the NFL in tackling, but with a disappointing campaign from DeVondre Campbell, who was signed to fill in for an injured Dre Greenlaw, and some inconsistency from Nick Bosa, that’s exactly what happened to this season’s 49ers. In Week 12 in Green Bay, they missed 24 tackles (four more than any other team in a single game this season) and they didn’t force a fumble in their final 10 games. Their saving grace was their ability to stem the damage, allowing 4.8 yards per missed tackle (second-fewest in the NFL). Robert Saleh’s return as defensive coordinator may be a sign of better things to come in 2025. However, he’ll face a challenge if San Francisco can’t retain Charvarius Ward, possibly the best tackling corner in the NFL, in free agency.
Teams that don’t tackle cannot stop the run. Unsurprisingly, the correlation impacted the 49ers in 2024. They finished 26th in rushing success rate and 28th in rushing EPA allowed. It’s not a surprise to see the 49ers rank near the bottom in big plays on the ground when you look at their tackling numbers in the secondary.
Per Sports Info Solutions, rookie Renardo Green was one of the most consistent tacklers on the team. He only missed a tackle 9.2 percent of the time. Deommodore Lenoir gets more opportunities than most, so his 16.7 missed tackle rate is understandable, especially considering how many plays he makes at or near the line of scrimmage.
Unrestricted free agent Talanoa Hufanga missed a tackle 28.3 percent of the time. Ji’Ayir Brown (18.3 percent) and Malik Mustapha (19.3 percent) were below average, but not to the lengths Hufanga was.
Linebacker Fred...
