Niners Nation
Looking back at the previous 3 seasons to let history tell us which player on each side of the ball who will step up for the Niners in the second half of the season
The San Francisco 49ers head into the second half of the season with Super Bowl aspirations. Nothing has changed in that regard. That has been the goal for the Niners since the offseason program began in the spring.
It’s not uncommon for teams to get hit by the injury bug. The Detroit Lions lost their best player. The Green Bay Packers have played multiple games without their quarterback. The Los Angeles Rams have rarely had their full complement of weapons.
Everybody suffers from injuries. The 49ers losing Brandon Aiyuk and Javon Hargrave and not having Dre Greenlaw or Christian McCaffrey this season have been substantial losses. Even listing those names sells short the number of games or snaps other critical players have missed. Deebo Samuel, George Kittle, Jauan Jennings, Charvarius Ward. The list goes on and on.
But nobody feels sorry for the 49ers, who are currently on the outside looking in of the NFC playoff picture and a half-game out of the basement in the NFC West. At the same time, there isn’t a soul in the football world who is discounting the Niners, a team that has won 70 percent of its games during the past three seasons.
Brandon Aiyuk’s emergence in the second half of the season helped propel the 49ers in 2021. Aiyuk finished ninth in the NFL in the second half of the season, averaging 15.7 yards per reception. Aiyuk finished in the top 15 in first downs and passer rating when targeted.
Defensively, Arden Key was outstanding down the stretch. Linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair deserves a ton of credit, but Key finished with 31 pressures after Week 9, which was inside the top 20 and second on the team behind Nick Bosa. Key made a difference by bringing down the quarterback. His eight sacks in the second half were one fewer than Bosa and seventh in the NFL overall.
Bosa led the league in pressures and quarterback hits in the second half of 2022. Key moved on to Jacksonville, where he continued his strong play. But the 49ers needed an edge presence opposite Bosa. That was Charles Omenihu, who picked up where Key left off the previous season.
Omenihu had 30 pressures in the second half, which put him in the same company as J.J. Watt, Myles Garrett, Matthew Judon, and Brian Burns. The 49ers were paying pennies on the dollar for superstar production.
The offense in 2022 transformed from a run-heavy, play-action offense to a unit that threw the ball more than ever under Kyle Shanahan after Brock Purdy took over for an injured Jimmy Garoppolo. Adding Christian McCaffrey didn’t hurt. But it was an extreme makeover on that side of the ball that would carry over into 2023.
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