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49ers Notebook: What’s the plan for Dee Ford? And why chasing Baker Mayfield will be fun… sort of

By

Jacob Hutchinson

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© Cary Edmondson-USA TODAY Sports

Monday night will mark the first time the 49ers play in a primetime setting in the 2019 season, and against the 2-2 Browns (who’ve already played two primetime games) who might be as hyped as any team in the NFL, it will provide first impressions on the 49ers for much of America. The success of the pass rush on Baker Mayfield will be a massive point in determining the outcome of the game, something that both Dee Ford and Nick Bosa intend to embrace.

What’s up with Dee’s knee?

Dee Ford practiced for the 49ers on Saturday, as was expected. He’ll likely play on Monday, as was expected. His chronic quad/knee tendinitis in his left knee will continue, though that was not expected, at least by Ford and the 49ers, at the start of the season. His goal and the team’s goal of putting the pain “to bed this year,” was always a bit far-fetched, considering the nature of a condition which—again—is chronic, and has bothered him for his entire professional career.

Ford said he returned from a torn MCL in that left knee “way too soon” when he was at Auburn; something which appears to be the root cause of the pain he’s now in.

While he did not say offseason surgery would be required, that was the message left in the tea leaves when Ford talked about the tendinitis before the bye week. “We’ll go further once we get done at the end of the year… We have to do something,” Ford said September 24.

For as concerning as the injury is for any player—let alone one who was traded for with a second-round draft pick and who received a five-year, $85 million contract with $20.5 million fully guaranteed and $45 million guaranteed against injury according to Over the Cap—it may be something that Ford can play through, albeit on a limited basis.

He admitted that he suffered a torn groin with the Kansas City Chiefs against the 49ers in Week 3 last season and then played through that and his tendinitis for the entire season. He failed to miss a game in the regular season, the playoffs, or even the Pro Bowl, which amounted to 1,022 regular season snaps, good for fourth-most on the Chiefs, and 86.76 percent of their total defensive snaps.

As head coach Kyle Shanahan alluded to on Thursday, it could be the case going forward that Ford misses a practice or two each week, but is ready for game action by the weekend (the potential exceptions to that could be the 49ers’ game next Sunday against the Rams with one day less of rest, but it will more likely just be the Thursday night Halloween game at the Arizona Cardinals).

“Yeah, it definitely is something [where he could miss one or two practices each week],” Shanahan said. “We hope that goes away… We’ve got to ease him back into it, which we are doing. Hopefully he’ll get out there, possibly tomorrow, more likely on Friday, or whatever day we’re on because we have a Monday night game I do not know what day it is.”

So, don’t panic when Ford misses the first practice or two of the week. If he gets back for the final practice, he’ll likely play.

The greater question at hand is whether the 49ers’ very shiny, new edge rusher will be used as anything other than a primarily third-down rusher. He’s had an extra week to recover, but it’s just Week 5 and if the playoff aspirations for this team are legitimate, he’ll likely be needed more at that point than he is at the moment.

That’s at least how Ford was used against the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 3—almost solely on third downs. He took just 16 snaps (30 percent of the defense’s total snaps), plus two on special teams (one was a punt from inside the 49ers’ half which threatened to be a trick play). With the solid play of Nick Bosa, Arik Armstead and Ronald Blair, it might quickly become the case that Ford is limited mainly to third downs.

I asked Shanahan whether Ford would have be almost solely a third-down guy on Monday. His answer reads as if Ford’s status is still being evaluated, but that he’ll mostly be used on third downs, with the possibility of gaining a few more snaps in non-third down situations (would not be surprising, especially if the flow of the game necessitates it).

“We’d like it not to be going forward, but with him coming off his injury and not getting enough practice time, that’s why we’ve been smart,” Shanahan said Saturday. I do believe he’s better right now than he was at that time. We had to do some things over the bye week that he had to recover from, so hopefully he’ll be full recovered by Monday night and can play and play a little bit more. We’re taking that day by day.”

Ford, Nick Bosa don’t prefer mobile quarterbacks, but chasing Mayfield could be fun

Can you blame them? Ford said he doesn’t like to do comparisons, but he and Bosa acknowledged Baker Mayfield’s similarities to Russell Wilson with his on-the-move throwing capabilities and athleticism to get out of the pocket.

The last time Bosa (who said, somewhat jokingly that he’s “98 percent” healthy after almost fully recovering from his ankle sprain—the percentage being the joke, not the sentiment) faced Mayfield was the second game of the 2017 season, when his Ohio State Buckeyes lost to Mayfield’s Oklahoma Sooners. Mayfield had three touchdowns and infamously planted the Oklahoma flag at the center of the Buckeyes’ field:

… Though Bosa did sack Mayfield once (see below).

Both Bosa and Ford said they don’t prefer mobile quarterbacks. However, they were not lacking in confidence.

“No,” Ford said. “More work I’ve gotta do to get to him. But we’re going to get to him.”

Don’t expect the 49ers to change much of what they’ve done on defense to compensate for Mayfield, who has struggled against some disguised coverages and “creeper blitzes” that force protections against a shown blitz before defensive ends and/or linebackers drop back into coverage. The 49ers have not done too much of that, especially with defensive ends dropping into coverage, but they have disguised coverages plenty.

Ford told KNBR the defense won’t be fundamentally changing anything for Mayfield.

“We notice certain things. Certain things, any football player will struggle with; he’s also played well against,” Ford said. “So, we come into the game understanding what we can do and what we can dial up and really execute. This is Week 5, game four for us, so we’re not going to reinvent anything that we do as far as what they struggle with, because we understand that if we execute well, they’ll struggle with what we do too.”

There were heaps of praise from the 49ers for Mayfield as being more than just a mobile quarterback, coupled with a recognition of his ability to escape pressure. Bosa, who’s narrowly missed a few sacks thus far, seemed to zero in on finishing those plays over the past two weeks. He said that his brother, Joey, of the Los Angeles Chargers, and Ford, both provided tips to finish with the quarterback on the ground.

“[Joey] told me to get my eyes, when I clear the blocker, to get my eyes on the hips of the quarterback, is the best way to do it, so I’ve been trying to work on that and then Dee gave me a tip in practice, trying to get my inside foot through, so I could just step through and not just run by the quarterback every time in practice,” Bosa said. “So just getting used to sticking it through and cutting the edge as tight as you can.”

With the eyes of the nation on the 49ers against a team composed of the slippery Mayfield and the weapons of Odell Beckham Jr., Jarvis Landry and the recently activated (after a suspension) Antonio Callaway, Bosa wants to make sure the right impression is left.

“Everybody’s going to have an impression of us after this game and we want it to be a 4-0 good impression as opposed to a ‘fake undefeated team,’ that people are kind of saying now,” Bosa said. “We’re just focused on going through the same schedule this week, not trying to change too much. It’s been working for us. Just preparing hard and it’s going to be a tough, tough game, but we’ll be ready.”

Other notes: Expectations for Tevin Coleman, Jordan Matthews and the numbers game

  • Tevin Coleman will almost certainly play on Monday night. It’s unclear what capacity that will be in, but Shanahan said Thursday that he’ll never sit if he’s 100 percent. He’s not going to be 100 percent just yet, but he’ll still be invaluable to the 49ers, especially as a pass-catcher out of the backfield
  • Jordan Matthews is less certain to be active, but when asked of his level of comfortability in making Matthews active, Shanahan said he was, “Definitely comfortable with that.” He also provides the most height on the team and is a consistent threat out of the slot; so far Richie James has mostly operated there.
  • As mentioned earlier in the week, Jimmie Ward will almost certainly be active and may start at free safety, though he’s been praised for his positional flexibility and could be used anywhere in the secondary.
  • Numbers game: The seven inactives will have at least Ahkello Witherspoon, Joe Staley and C.J. Beathard on the sidelines. More than likely, the recently-signed Dontae Johnson and Sam Young will be there, too, and Julian Taylor seems a reasonable bet to be inactive as well. That leaves one more spot for inactivity, which more than likely, will come from the wide receivers or running backs. It would seem harsh and perhaps foolish to sideline Jeff Wilson Jr. after he’s done nothing but put the ball in the end zone the past two games (4 touchdowns), especially with Tevin Coleman just returning; it would make more sense to keep Wilson on the pound-it-in duties in the red zone. That would leave an inactive designation at wide receiver, where it would either be Jordan Matthews or Kendrick Bourne. While Bourne made it over Matthews, it feels like the active designation will be flipped this week in order to give Jimmy Garoppolo a consistent, height-advantaged threat in the slot this week. Bourne has played few snaps and hasn’t provided all that much on special teams.
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