© Stan Szeto-USA TODAY Sports
SANTA CLARA – It’s time. The moment of reckoning is upon us.
OK, it’s not that severe, but when Kyle Shanahan gets his hands on his upgraded offense for the first time on Saturday, it will start a clock. Shanahan, John Lynch, Robert Saleh, and just about everyone who’s been a key part of the 49ers’ now third year of focused rebuilding under this regime will be required to demonstrate why they were hired.
But if it’s anyone’s team, it’s Shanahan’s. The three wide receivers and offensive tackle drafted in the first three rounds of the last two drafts (Mike McGlinchey – 1st round, 9th overall in 2018, Dante Pettis – 2nd round, 44th overall in 2018, Deebo Samuel – 2nd round, 36th overall in 2019, Jalen Hurd – 3rd round, 67th overall in 2019) bely a reality that this team is built around him and his offense. It will live or die on the shoulders of Shanahan and Jimmy Garoppolo.
Barring a Garoppolo injury, there are no outs. If the offensive game plan and quarterbacking is good enough, this team will succeed. If it fails, we’ll know why.
There are too many weapons in the arsenal for the offense to fail and it be excusable. Three young wide receivers, plus Marquise Goodwin and whoever the final two or three likely veteran receivers are that notch their place (the likes of Jordan Matthews, Trent Taylor, Kendrick Bourne and others will be in the mix) plus arguably the deepest backfield in the league with Tevin Coleman, Matt Breida, Jerick McKinnon and Kyle Juszczyk leaves no room for excuses.
Hurd will no doubt have a steep learning curve and could prove to be much more raw than was hoped for, but aside from him, all of these wide outs, including the other rookie receiver Deebo Samuel, should be able to plug and play from the jump.
Even the offensive line, while imperfect inside the B gaps, will field two top-tier tackles in Joe Staley and Mike McGlinchey. Laken Tomlinson is solid, Weston Richburg is capable of more, and if Mike Person is the likely worst player on the line, that’s still enough to protect Garoppolo most of the time.
Garoppolo earned his five-year, $137.5 million deal with a five-game unbeaten streak when he joined the 49ers in 2017. There was clearly a player in there who could get the best out of a not above average supporting cast, and it’s Shanahan’s job to rekindle that and challenge a quarterback whose brief time in charge has seen a below franchise-caliber touchdown/interception differential (12:8 in his two years, 7:5 in 2017, 5:3 in 2018), although some of those picks weren’t his fault.
The 49ers had by far the worst turnover differential in the league, and the offense failed to compensate with the consistent big play threat that typifies a Shanahan offense. If that approach fails and that turnover problem rears its ugly head, the optimism of this 2019 season could be squelched quickly.
But more than anything, this team needs to score in the red zone.
The 49ers were dead last in touchdown efficiency in the red zone last season with a 41.18 conversion percentage (worst by three percentage points). Sure, some of that can be blamed on personnel and having Nick Mullens at quarterback, but much of it comes down to scheme and execution. If the 49ers are going to take a jump this season, there will have to enormous improvement in red zone efficiency.
Shanahan has his arsenal. The question now is, will he push his offense to the elite level it should be at?
Note: This piece is part of a countdown to training camp feature which, each day leading up to the start of training camp on July 27, will take a look at one of the 10 biggest questions the 49ers will have to answer this season. While camp officially starts on July 26 when players report, the first practice is July 27.
To read Thursday’s piece on Robert Saleh’s potential make-or-break year with the 49ers defense click here.
