49ers mailbag: Why not Josh Dobbs? What changes are looming this offseason? (original) (raw)

The questions are becoming deeper, more philosophical and they’re looking ahead to next season.

That’s a sad state of affairs considering what the San Francisco 49ers accomplished last season and the fact that we haven’t even had Thanksgiving yet. But it’s to be expected after the team’s dull performance in Green Bay.

Thanks for the truly great questions, which have been slightly modified for clarity. Most of you know where to find me on X. I’m also on Bluesky — @mattbarrows — and I took some of the questions from there, from X and from the comments section of recent stories.

Why Brandon Allen and not Joshua Dobbs? — JT S.

That’s a question I’m sure Dobbs is asking as well. Earlier this season he told The Chronicle’s Eric Branch that he thought he’d earned the No. 2 role coming out of training camp and the preseason.

This is how I’d characterize it: Dobbs looked rough when training camp began, missing even short, easy throws. But that’s what you should expect from newcomers at the start of training camp. You’d expect a rookie offensive lineman, for example, to get whupped in his first few one-on-one blocking matchups. If that lineman is still getting beaten handily in late August, it’s a problem. But good players improve as time goes on.

That’s what Dobbs did. To his credit, he didn’t try to be careful. He tried to be aggressive. I thought he pushed the ball down the field more than Allen and was certainly a better runner. I thought he was the better — or maybe the right description is, the more promising — quarterback by the time the preseason ended.

The 49ers, obviously, didn’t see it that way. They liked Allen’s experience in the system, which not only included a 49ers backup role in 2023 but having played in a similar offense in Los Angeles and Cincinnati. And we don’t know what happened behind closed doors: It very well could be that when Kyle Shanahan, Brian Griese, et al. examined the practice tape, they concluded that Allen simply was making better decisions than Dobbs.

And though the 49ers *said* there was a competition for the No. 2 job in training camp, Allen always was the second quarterback to get repetitions in practice. Without fail. It was a watch-what-we-do situation. They said there was a competition, but they never really conducted practices like there was a true competition.

Having said all that, Allen was far from the sole reason the 49ers lost on Sunday. Was he shaky to start out? Absolutely. Should he have put on longer cleats? You betcha. But from the second quarter onward, he was 16 of 28 for 190 yards with a touchdown and an interception. The interception was due to one of Deebo Samuel’s two drops in that span. Eliminate those drops and Allen has at least a 100 passer rating in the game.

GO DEEPER49ers minutia minute: Brock Purdy passes first test; Dre Greenlaw's window opens

Obviously injuries have been problem Nos. 1, 2, and 3 for the offense. But it also feels like Shanahan has been a step behind defensive schemes this season. Does he take some time this offseason to reimagine things? Bring in a true OC? Or just run it back and hope for better luck next year? — Nathan W.

Bring in an OC? Surely, you jest, sir! If Shanahan heard you ask that, he’d remove a white glove from his breast pocket and strike you across the face.

But I do agree that his vaunted offense hasn’t had answers for some of the things defenses are throwing at the 49ers this year. At the top of the list is the uptick in man coverage. I’ll be writing more about this in the future, but the bottom line is that defenses aren’t intimidated by the 49ers’ receivers and are playing more aggressive man coverage as a result.

If Brandon Aiyuk returns to full strength, maybe this is a moot point. He’s their best man-coverage beater. But Aiyuk wasn’t as good at that this season as he was in season’s past — do you think it had anything to do with his five-month contract holdout? — and will be coming off an ACL tear when the 2025 regular season begins. If I’m the 49ers, being better prepared for man coverage is high on my offseason to-do list.

I’m really puzzled. Why doesn’t Shanahan use Jordan Mason and Ricky Pearsall more? — Rick R.

I asked Shanahan about Mason — and wrote about it — last week. Pearsall? He’s playing a lot. He was in on 67 percent of the snaps Sunday, the same as Samuel. The 49ers quarterbacks just haven’t targeted him the last two weeks.

Samuel is dead weight. Can the 49ers release him after the season? What’s the situation with his contract? — Tsundoku S.

According to Over the Cap, if he’s traded or released before June 1, the 49ers would incur a 31.5milliondeadcaphit,whichisabout31.5 million dead cap hit, which is about 31.5milliondeadcaphit,whichisabout15.6 million more than his slated 2025 cap hit of nearly $16 million. So cries of “Trade Deebo!” don’t make much sense. So if you hear anyone say, “Trade Deebo!”, remove your white glove and whack them across the cheek.

If they waited until after June 1 — or released him earlier with a post-June 1 designation — they would save 5.2millionagainstthe2025capandspreadthe5.2 million against the 2025 cap and spread the 5.2millionagainstthe2025capandspreadthe31.5 million hit over two seasons. He’d count for 10.7millionagainstthecapin2025and10.7 million against the cap in 2025 and 10.7millionagainstthecapin2025and20.8 million in 2026.

The salary cap ramifications are significant if the 49ers want to move on from Deebo Samuel at season’s end. (Jeff Hanisch/Imagn Images)

Very carefully, with sterile gloves, you addressed Allen’s left hand injury without mentioning the splint he was wearing on his middle finger. Sir, what’s the deal? — Luis A.A.

You are a careful reader and there is a distinct glove theme to this mailbag. The splint — and the fact that the digit is broken — were surprises.

As I noted in the most recent Minutia Minute, Allen appeared on the practice participation report in the run-up to the Nov. 10 game in Tampa. I asked Allen about it that Friday and he sloughed it off, saying it happened on an errant snap and that it was no big deal.

The following week, he not only wasn’t on the practice participation report, he’d ceased wearing any protection on the finger and was practicing in full. So it seemed like a non-issue for two weeks until — voila! — he had a bulky, black brace on the finger against the Packers.

Since Deommodore Lenoir got his extension early, do you have any indications that John Lynch is trying harder than ever to have extensions signed before free agency or the draft? — Dan B.

No, I don’t have any indication of that. But I know that it would behoove them to get a Brock Purdy extension completed shortly after the season ends. (The 49ers can begin to negotiate after their season ends. They don’t have to wait until the league year ends in March.)

Two other players will be interesting to watch. Dre Greenlaw and Talanoa Hufanga are both scheduled to be free agents in March. You have to wonder, however, if their recent injuries will dampen their markets and whether the 49ers might be able to re-sign them to short-term, maybe one-year, deals. Hufanga has the additional obstacle of playing a position, safety, that seems to always have a soft market.

Greenlaw may have a month’s worth of games to prove to the league that he is indeed back to being himself after his Achilles tear. It’s still unclear whether Hufanga (wrist) will be back this season.

GO DEEPER49ers, Deommodore Lenoir agree to 5-year, $92 million extension

Looking at the division, this season isn’t over. Do you have any faith based on performances so far that the team can make a push for the division title? — Matt A.

Here’s how I look at it: The 49ers needed to be ultra-sharp — the best version of themselves — at the start of the game in Green Bay. Instead, they could barely stay on their feet. A Herculean effort, possibly in the snow, in Buffalo, would change my mind. But Sunday’s performance made me more skeptical than I’ve been all season. The 49ers knew they had to reach down deep to win in Green Bay. When they did they came out with a fist full of nothing.

Austin Mock, who handles our playoff odds, is similarly skeptical. At one point, his odds for the 49ers making the playoffs were 90 percent. Now his graph looks like a Blockbuster stock report from the early 2000s.

Is there a reserve/practice squad offensive lineman that you think can contribute next season? With Jake Brendel and Colton McKivitz being subpar and Aaron Banks being a free agent, it seems like the O-line has room for new faces. — Mario M.

One of the issues is that teams keep poaching the 49ers’ developmental linemen — Keith Ismael, Ilm Manning and, most recently, draft pick Jarrett Kingston.

There’s one offensive lineman, a center, on the practice squad who has promise, Drake Nugent. He’s squattier than the ideal center — a bit over 6-1 — but has longer arms, 33 inches, than you’d expect.

Here’s what offensive line coach Chris Foerster said about Nugent in the summer:

“We got to the week before the draft, we started looking at the guys that we thought were going to be drafted sixth, seventh or not be drafted at all. He fits our style. He is the more undersized, quick guy that plays with a lot of leverage and things like that, that may not be big enough. May not quite be the prototypical starter guy. But he does have some of those traits that we really like, and he fits our system really well. That’s what we saw. Even though Michigan really didn’t highlight the outside zone at all.

“PFF has this thing where they categorize the play by outside, inside, and gap scheme. They had, like, 17 outside zones the whole season, and they ran the crap out of the ball. So it was hard (to evaluate). But you had to look at his testing, and we did like him a lot. Really good kid.”

If there are changes to the defensive coaching staff, do you foresee the Niners reevaluating their defensive philosophy as a whole? Perhaps pursuing someone from the Mike Macdonald or Brian Flores tree? — Taylor H.

No, I see them pursuing the guy they really wanted this year, Jeff Ulbrich.

Do you think the lack of big moves by the 49ers front office in the trade deadline was because they kinda knew this was coming? — Lucas T.

I don’t know. Heading into the trade deadline, my thought was: What happens if Nick Bosa or Leonard Floyd has to miss a game? What will the 49ers do at defensive end?

Now we know the answer: Play Sam Okuayinonu on 62 percent of the snaps. (For the record, I like Okuayinonu and think he’s worth developing. But relying on him in a must-win game like Sunday’s was too much to ask).

(Top photo of Josh Dobbs: Stacy Revere/Getty Images)

Matt Barrows is a senior writer for The Athletic covering the 49ers. He joined The Athletic in 2018 and has covered the 49ers since 2003. He was a reporter with The Sacramento Bee for 19 years, four of them as a Metro reporter. Before that he spent two years in South Carolina with The Hilton Head Island Packet. Follow Matt on Twitter @MattBarrows