1st & 10: Preseason Opener Insights: Standout Players and Backup QBs | 49ers

[Music] hello and welcome to the 49ers first and 10 podcast 10 minutes of the most up-to-date 49ers news first thing in the morning I'm your host bana McDonald joining me is team reporter Lindsay polarz the San Francisco 49ers wrapped up their very first preseason game against the Tennessee Titans this Saturday it ended a close loss 17-13 but there are some key takeaways from this preseason contest first off it was an interesting watch for the faithful since there weren't many starters in which we knew ahead of time head coach Kyle Shanahan wasn't calling plays in this game Lindsay how did the absence of the team's starters impact the overall strategy in this game yeah Bri I think it's a lot of what we talked about leading up to the game like you mentioned we were well aware that the starter contingent was going to be low and if there were expected starters playing in this game we really weren't going to expect them to play a ton of snaps um because obviously you want to ramp up for the season but also balance the line of making sure everyone stays healthy or as healthy as possible um so I think again Saturday's game was about seeing how younger players offseason additions those undrafted free agent signings the rookies um how everyone coming together and developing after a pretty grueling three weeks of training camp because as you know it has just been day after day after day of practice um and these games are a chance to finally put everything that's being worked on in those training camp practices out on the field see how we're trending um and I think that's exactly what you got on Saturday so yes and the fact that you know it was a competitive game you know the 49ers are very much in it until the very last seconds of Regulation I think is a positive sign and you did see some pretty good developments from younger players in this game so I think overall a lot of good things coming out of Saturday another thing we paid some extra attention to special teams in this game how are the 49ers adapting to this new kickoff rule I think it was pretty interesting to watch because you've seen some of the new kickoff roles put into action because you've had the Hall of Fame games some other preseason games this was the first time that the 49ers put it into action what we've seen over the course of training camp it is that there are tandems of kick returners that have been working together um and there's been various combinations over the last three weeks of training camp uh they went heavily with Ronnie Bell and Trent Taylor um in this game and it was again it was just different right you've got a whole different lineup a landing Zone um and the whole point of this new kickoff role is one to increase player safety and then also make the kickoff a a play that can you know result in explosive plays that it's not just a throwaway play um I do think that we saw that Trent Taylor um had a couple returns for 18 yards and then 19 yards um when the 49ers were actually the kicking team um we did see that the Titans got an explosive play it was a 63 yard return uh but then they were able to limit Tennessee in the second half to just an 18 yard return um so again I think right now it's every team is just figuring out the best strategy to this new kickoff rule uh but definitely a great learning experience for everybody watching and I'm sure everybody on the field as well yeah definitely and just like you mentioned earlier this preseason slate serves as a great time to evaluate the teams newcomers and rookie players so after just one matchup now is there anyone that really stands out to you I think one name that was mentioned a lot on X in many articles in my article as well um if you read my takeaways article from Saturday is linebacker D Winters he's a younger player that was drafted in the sixth round of last year's draft um and you can just see that he is taking that second year that sophomore jump that you want to see from the rookies of of last year um he is playing like we've mentioned over the course of training camp confidently aggressively very much in the 49ers style of play fast and physical um we hear that a lot and I think a couple of plays that really stood out to me uh was a goal line tackle that D winners had of Titans quarterback will Levis it held off a wouldbe touchdown on that play the Titans went on to score later on in the drive um but then he also had a tackle for loss of six yards of running back Tai J Spears on another Drive um you just see uh I thought it was you know a good impression of a Dre Greenlaw type tackle in both those situations fast physical to the point very effective um so looking forward to seeing more from him he's somebody that has been talked about like I mentioned a lot over the course of training camp and you saw that in action during these live game reps yeah let's check in with the 2024 draft class do you award any rookies of the game um I think it was more just a collective effort I think the rookies put together some nice highlight plays in this game right I think it's we're too early in the preseason slate to I guess give Awards out but I did want to call out safety Malik Mustafa I thought he had a great second quarter play um he actually stopped a Titans fourth down attempt um by bringing down Hassan H Haskins in the back field um and that was an interesting play because the 49ers actually had to challenge the Titans being awarded a first down um they won the challenge so that effectively means that Mustafa was able to force a turnover on Downs um the 49ers ended up taking over on the two- yard line but that's got to be a good confidence booster for a rookie to make a big play in his first outing and these live game action reps um then we had a rookie Corner Renardo green he actually came up with a loose ball um so again involved in another turnover there and then we saw offensive lineman Dominic puny he got the start um with the 49ers offensive line I think again just great reps and work for a rookie offensive lineman and I heard head coach Kyle Shanahan talk about pun's performance after the game and he said well I didn't get mad at him so that's always a good sign I mean I didn't I didn't get mad at him for anything so that usually means that you played pretty good I mean the o line you know we rarely keep our eyes on the o line you know we're watching the secondary and coverages and usually when someone misses something is when you notice them so um I have a feeling that he did pretty good but I'll know when I get on the plane you know offensive line isn't always the focus immediately until you get into the game tape because there's so much going on on the field but if you don't get called out on the offensive line I do think that is a positive sign that you're doing the right thing so I think things are trending in the right direction with him as well all right yeah speaking of a lot going on during the game we saw two quarterbacks under Center this weekend what's your assessment of Brandon Allen and Joshua Do's performances in their bid for that backup quarterback role you know after Saturday I think they're both still very much contenders for that position each of them played one half of Saturday's preseason opener against the Titans uh Brandon Allen got the start he completed seven to 13 pass attempts for 98 yards um his longest throw was to Frank derby um a 33 yard just kind of line drive down the middle um dos took over in the second half completed 14 of 20 pass attempts for 146 yards um you saw him really settle in in the fourth quarter um and play a little bit more confidently than he did right out of the half um he had hit Trent Taylor for a 21 yard gain um for a big third down conversion um and he put the 49ers in a position to win like I said up until those final seconds of the game uh took a hail Mar shot didn't work um but again you just want to see development you want to see both of them just become more comfortable in the system this is Allen's second season with the ners for dos he's done quite a bit of jumping around in the last calendar year so it's great to see him again settle in in that fourth quarter start to really look comfortable in the four 9ers offense so I think steps again in the right direction which is really the goal of these preseason games I thought they did a good job you know I thought um you know Brandon especially his first drive I was happy with the whole offense there um I think we we had some penalties and stuff got us in some um bad situations but he overcame a few with some big throws on third down um and I thought Josh came in and gave us a chance to win and he made some real good throws there at the end um just came up a little bit short but uh I thought both have made some plays all right preseason week one is now in the books Lindsay what should we expect for the week ahead yeah so for the week ahead a little bit of a change of plans the 49ers are actually going to be staying in Santa Clara uh for practices and then we've got that second preseason game coming up on Sunday so we're rocking and rolling um you know obviously some bumps and bruises are carrying over from training camp um so we'll keep an eye on players that are you know dealing with some lingering injuries but 49ers are back to work today they had the day off Sunday um so plenty more practice updates coming through the week all right faithful that will do it for today subscribe for more 49ers updates and turn on the notifications for any breaking news move the chains episode thanks for tuning in [Music]