49ers snap counts from Week 4 win over Patriots point to rotation at hugely important position
The San Francisco 49ers got back on track in Week 4 with a comfortable win over the New England Patriots. Facing a Patriots team in the midst of a rebuild and with a severely undermanned offensive line, it's tough to definitively say how much we learned about the 49ers from their 30-13 victory. But the […]
The San Francisco 49ers got back on track in Week 4 with a comfortable win over the New England Patriots.
Facing a Patriots team in the midst of a rebuild and with a severely undermanned offensive line, it's tough to definitively say how much we learned about the 49ers from their 30-13 victory.
But the breakdown of the 49ers' defensive snaps from Sunday did offer an insight into a potential change in approach at a critical position.
Veteran Isaac Yiadom has seen the majority of the snaps this season in the 49ers' third cornerback role, playing on the outside on nickel downs when Deommodore Lenoir kicks inside.
However, against the Patriots, Yiadom saw his snaps significantly diminish.
Indeed, Yiadom played only 16 defensive snaps, seven fewer than rookie second-round pick Renardo Green.
Green had played only sparingly in the previous three weeks of the season, but his ascension could be viewed as a sign the 49ers are growing weary of seeing Yiadom struggle in coverage as he did against both the Minnesota Vikings and Los Angeles Rams.
On the other hand, Green's superior number of snaps could simply be a product of the 49ers' dominance in the game, which made it a good opportunity to get younger players some more experience.
Still, the 49ers should be encouraged by what Green put on tape against the Patriots, as he demonstrated the sticky coverage ability that was obviously a huge factor in them taking him so high.
His skills in coverage were evident on the only target Green faced, which saw him display impressive stop-start quickness to stay in phase with Ja'Lynn Polk on a downfield shot that should have been intercepted by Ji'Ayir Brown.
Yiadom, to his credit, bounced back nicely from two difficult performances, registering his second pass breakup of the season to force the Patriots off the field on third down on their first series.
Kyle Shanahan told his Monday conference call of Green's increased playing time:
"It was nice to get Renardo in there. We planned on getting him in some, just like we had some other guys, and I think we put him in for the first time in the second half. And it was nothing against Ike, Ike had a hell of a first half. We just planned on doing it on the third series and the way it was going we just waited a little bit, gave him a shot in the third quarter and he was doing good and we just rolled with him.”
Both Yiadom and Green benefited from facing one of the worst offenses in football, and the tougher tests that lie ahead will likely provide a better indicator of who deserves the third corner spot.
But after an impromptu reversal in their playing time, it appears the CB3 spot may be heading towards a rotation rather than belonging exclusively to Yiadom.
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It was an encouraging performance.
