What changes can you make when you keep coming so close to winning it all? That’s a question the 49ers’ brass may have asked themselves when they sat down to reflect on 2022 and formalize their plan of attack for 2023.

It is a query that this year might have proved particularly tough to answer. The 49ers players believe they would have beaten the Eagles in the NFC Championship Game had Brock Purdy not suffered a torn elbow ligament on the first offensive series for San Francisco.

The 49ers coaches surely share that belief, but that will not have prevented them from highlighting areas for potential improvement. 

Head coach Kyle Shanahan is an excellent self-scouter who will certainly have targeted aspects of the game in which the 49ers can make strides as they look to dethrone the Eagles and return to the Super Bowl.

Which areas for improvement could he be focusing on? Let’s look at three that should be on his list.

3 Improvements the 49ers can make from 2022

Interior pass rush

One of the more prominent football debates of recent years has surrounded pass rush versus coverage and which is more important to a defense’s success.

The 49ers’ defensive philosophy has consistently favoured the former. However, last year it was more balanced and, rather than coming from all over the defensive line, the rush was primarily concentrated to one area of the front as Nick Bosa racked up 18.5 sacks en route to Defensive Player of the Year.

Regular support was in short supply, with the interior pass rush especially lacking. Arik Armstead spent much of 2022 on the sideline but still led all 49ers defensive tackles in pressures with 30, per Pro Football Focus, though he did not register a sack. Former first-round pick Javon Kinlaw ensured another frustrating and an injury-hit year.

The solution, the 49ers concluded, was to throw $84 million over four years at Javon Hargrave, coming off a career-high 11.5 sacks in helping the Eagles to the Super Bowl. The 49ers need him to immediately start repaying that contract, they need Armstead to stay healthy and, in an ideal world, they need to get something from Kinlaw.

It can’t be all on Bosa. With a premier pass-rushing defensive tackle signed, it’s time for the interior to step up.

Deep passing

The 49ers’ offense is not one built around deep shots, but it was clear when they traded up to select Trey Lance third overall in 2021 that Shanahan wanted to access areas of the field that have rarely been the domain of his quarterbacks during his time with the team.

With Lance on the shelf from Week 2 of last season onwards after his ankle injury against the Seahawks, those areas of the field have continued to be ones attacked rarely by San Francisco signal-callers.

San Francisco’s 79 pass attempts traveling at least 15 air yards were the third-fewest in the league, per Sports Info Solutions, and the Niners’ completion percentage of 41.8 on those attempts was 21st.

The 49ers can afford to target those areas sparingly, given how effectively their offense works hitting receivers over the middle and relying on their yards after the catch upside to create big plays. Only the Eagles and the Chiefs had more passing plays of 20 yards or more than the 49ers’ 75 last year.

But San Francisco’s attack grew so devastating in the second half of last season because of the multifaceted nature of their playmakers, and the effectiveness of the Shanahan offense is largely down to its ability to hurt defenses in several fashions from plays that often look the same.

The lack of a deep element is depriving the 49ers of another potential dimension to the NFL’s most malleable offense. With the way in which Shanahan can put his receivers in wide open space, there is no reason the 49ers’ numbers going downfield cannot be drastically improved.

Though Purdy does not have an elite arm, 16 of his 21 attempts of 15 air yards or more over the course of his five starts were considered catchable, his ratio of 76.2 percent the fourth-best of all quarterbacks with at least 10 such attempts from Week 14 to 18.

Shanahan clearly has confidence in Purdy, who in a small sample size has been better attacking deep than he is given credit for. The 49ers have the means to make their offense even more explosive in 2023, it perhaps just requires a little more downfield ambition on their part.

The play-action game

While it has been some time since the 49ers have had a proven top-tier deep passer on their roster, they have consistently been regarded as an excellent play-action team under Shanahan.

And we should be clear here, the 49ers are still a very good play-action team. However, the numbers indicate there is clearly room for them to get markedly better and potentially make an aspect of the offense that has typically been among their strongest that much more dynamic.

The 49ers ranked 12th in Expected Points Added on play-action passes during the 2022 regular season, per SIS. San Francisco’s 119 such attempts generated an EPA of 13.14, while the Eagles, who ranked third, produced 40.84 EPA on 54 more plays.

That difference in play-action passes attempted was not big enough to justify Philadelphia more than doubling San Francisco’s EPA on such throws.

San Francisco was closer to the Eagles in terms of percentage of plays with Expected Points Added above zero on play-action. The 49ers (51.2%) were only just behind the Eagles (51.4%).

It is worth noting that, with Purdy under center in his five regular-season starts, the 49ers were eighth in EPA on play-action passes and had a higher rate of plays producing a positive EPA, though their 52.9 percent badly trailed the Eagles (59.5%).

San Francisco showed down the stretch last season that it has an offense capable of delivering sustained elite production, ranking second in EPA per play from Week 8 to 18 following the Christian McCaffrey trade.

The Niners’ odds of maintaining such production over the course of a full season and toppling the Eagles will be greatly increased if they can connect more consistently on the deep ball and harness more efficiency from a play-action game that has long since been a Shanahan calling card.

---

The 49ers don't need to make a series of massive improvements to contend in 2023. They are already established as perennial contenders in the NFC having made at least the Conference Championship in three of the last four seasons.

However, strides in these areas could help hold off what is likely to be a more sustained in-division challenge from the Seahawks and potentially finally get them over the top in their quest for a sixth Super Bowl title.

49ers: Brock Purdy has another believer, Tony Romo

Brock Purdy has another believer.

Featured Image Credit: Cary Edmondson-USA TODAY Sports