© Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
There is no shame in admitting it. You heard the names Justin Skule, Daniel Brunskill, Emmanuel Moseley and Ross Dwelley (at fullback) and your mind flashed forward to the potential disaster of Jimmy Garoppolo being sacked a half-dozen times a game and an inexperienced corner being taken advantage of on every other snap. That’s a natural reaction to the uncertainty brought on by the injuries of Joe Staley, Mike McGlinchey, Kyle Juszczyk and Ahkello Witherspoon, all of whom are targeting returns next week against the Seattle Seahawks.
I won’t pretend I was confident that this group of backups would excel. The loss of two potentially Pro Bowl quality tackles, the factotum fullback that is Kyle Juszczyk, and a third-year Witherspoon who was playing the best football of his career was not an inspiring series of events.
Watching Skule, the sixth-round rookie tackle out of Vanderbilt (where he was a four-year starter) and Brunskill, the American Alliance of Football recruit and former San Diego State tight end-turned-tackle in the preseason, you could see there was some level of capability. The same went for Moseley, who was robbed of a first career start last season by injury. The second-year Dwelley, meanwhile, had a fantastic camp at a tight end, but his viability in replacing maybe the NFL’s most dynamic fullback was of similar concern.
But between the four of them, there was a combined 39 snaps not on special teams coming into the season, all of which came from Dwelley, at a position not called fullback. Put simply, before this year, there was zero position-specific experience for all four of these players who are all set to start in their fourth-, fifth-, or sixth-straight weeks.
No matter how much optimism those preseason performances provided, there was no evidence to discern how they’d perform when asked to take over a starting role.
Inside the organization, there was a sense of calm when the injuries mounted. Yet, there is always hesitancy to believe organizational hype for players with little game experience. It can be seen as protecting those players, or as sort of a talk-the-talk `approach to retaining confidence.
But maybe we should have seen this coming.
When Richard Sherman praised Moseley before his first start, it came off as anything but bluster. He identified exactly where Moseley’s capabilities lied: feistiness, decision-making, press, confidence, movement, lateral quickness, straight-line speed.
“I wish he would have had a chance to play last year, because then people wouldn’t be as panicked as they are right now,” Sherman said the week before the 49ers battered the Cleveland Browns 31-3 on Monday Night Football. “He’s poised. He can play… I think that sometimes we overcomplicate things and we say, ‘Oh my god, this guy is this way on paper, this guy was this.’ Forget that. These are humans against humans and he’s a human being that can play this game at a high level and we believe in him. That’s why Kyle [Shanahan] and John [Lynch] kept him and that’s why he’s getting this opportunity.”
Before the season, now free agent wide receiver Jordan Matthews told KNBR that Skule’s toughness and humility would set him up for a successful NFL career. It’s clear now he was doing more than providing blind praise to a fellow Vanderbilt alumnus.
In preparation for the Washington Redskins, both Skule and Brunskill discussed their matchups like seasoned veterans, something that’s probably a product of Staley and McGlinchey both remaining around during O-line meetings. They assessed the way they expected to match up with Redskins edge rushers Ryan Kerrigan and Montez Sweat in detail, and the offensive line allowed just two sacks in that mud bowl.
Shanahan said after Sunday’s win over the Carolina Panthers that Skule and Brunskill were playing like anything but fourth and fifth tackles on the depth chart, calling that categorization “an insult to those guys.”
Matt Breida, another undraftee who the 49ers unearthed as a crucial player, credited Lynch and Shanahan for their ability to identify talent and said Skule and Brunskill are starting-caliber tackles.
“It just goes to show you what Kyle and John have done over the last two, three years, bringing in the talent, getting the guys depth at each position that we need so if someone does go down, like you said, it doesn’t feel like a fourth, fifth tackle,” Breida said. “They could be a starter on every other team and it’s just amazing when you have guys like that.”
On KNBR this week, Lynch talked at length about his pride in the 49ers’ scouting department, crediting vice president of player personnel Adam Peters for discovering Moseley. He said the Houston Texans had tried to scoop up Moseley from the 49ers’ practice squad last season, but Lynch and co. were able to convince Moseley to stay by promoting him to the active roster.
“He’s picking us up in a big way and I’ve told you before, you never quite know until they’re thrown in there against top flight receivers, how good they are, but I did know in practice that this guy came, and he’s got all the measurables,” Lynch said. “It’s one of those guys you just say, ‘Why wasn’t this guy drafted higher?’ He can run, he can jump, he’s physical, all the things you need. And then you just kind of say, ‘Okay, well how is he going to perform?’ And everything we’ve asked of him, he’s done a great job. Last week, he came up with that pick, which was a huge play in the game. He’s been tremendous.”
That interception from Moseley last week wasn’t on a poor throw or a miscommunication between the quarterback and wide receiver. He simply knew the receiver would run a curl based on the out route run by the No. 2 receiver, as explained by Richard Sherman. He jumped the route for an interception, one of the 49ers’ three on the day.
Filthy! Great job reading the route concept Emmanuel Moseley. I talk a lot about anticipation. This is a great example of that pic.twitter.com/ViEKG0f4qw
— Eric Crocker (@CoachCrocky) October 27, 2019
Oftentimes, those diamonds in the rough show up on special teams. Before Raheem Mostert figured significantly in the backfield, he was almost solely a special teams gunner, and has remained tremendous at that (Jeff Wilson Jr. has taken some of those duties off his shoulders). Before Moseley was starting for Witherspoon, he was making crushing open-field tackles on special teams.
Now it’s safety Marcell Harris who’s taken the reigns in that arena, to devastating effect. Linebacker Dre Greenlaw, who is technically the third starting SAM linebacker in the now lesser-used 4-3 scheme, has also played key snaps on special teams. Kwon Alexander told KNBR those defensive depth players are “headhunters,” who show up frequently behind the scenes.
You may see some of those old duties return in a week when the 49ers expect to return all four of Staley, McGlinchey, Juszczyk and Witherspoon. To state the obvious, Richard Sherman said he expects those reinforcements to help.
“I think it’s going to make us a lot better, you know, because it gives us a tremendous amount of depth in terms of guys that we can trust,” Sherman said. “Coming into the season once Shon [Coleman] went down, there were questions about who the swing tackle was, and I think [Lynch] found two guys who can do it. You wouldn’t have known that if Joe and Mike were playing the entire time. You’d still have a lot of questions, like, “Oh, if one of these guys gets hurt, who’s going to step in?’ And I think those questions have been answered.
“And even with Jus coming back, it gives us even more versatility because the guys who had to fill in for Jus are going to be able to be just as versatile. Kyle is going to be able to call the offense as he has, whether Jus is in or not and run very similar plays, very similar action.
“Obviously in the secondary, Emmanuel has been fantastic and been one of the best corners in the league statistically. I think he’s given up one catch out of 10 attempts or something like that. And any time you’re playing that well, it shows tremendous depth. And obviously when Spoon comes back, I don’t think you can lose your spot to injury, but it’ll give everybody confidence in what we can do with what we have.”
