With no games to preview as the 49ers are on a bye week, let’s look back at the first half of the season and discuss some individual awards.
MVP – Christian McCaffrey Through the first five weeks of the season, it looked like the 49ers would have two players in the top five of MVP voting.
Brock Purdy came back to earth a bit as he threw five interceptions in his last three games, most of them in the fourth quarter.
When you think MVP, you think “clutch” and we Purdy cannot be credited for coughing up the ball when it mattered most.
McCaffrey leads the league in rushing yards and has the most receiving yards among running backs.
He’s combined for 13 total touchdowns.
Two fumbles lost in October are on the forefront of your mind, but McCaffrey is a walking big play who has, in some cases, bailed out the offense with one of his patented explosive plays.
His stats have cooled off during the losing streak, but that’s because teams are loading the box with no Trent Williams or Deebo Samuel.
When the 49ers have their full complement of weapons, and defenses have to play the Niners honestly, you could pencil McCaffrey in for over 100 yards from scrimmage and at least one touchdown.
On the podium: Brock Purdy, Brandon Aiyuk Offensive MVP – Brandon Aiyuk Kittle ended the month on a heater as he had 149 and 78 receiving yards in his final two games.
But he only had one reception in two games this season — likely due to what he was being asked — which makes it difficult to give him the nod over Aiyuk.
I will say that, as a blocker, Kittle could pass as an offensive lineman the way he holds up.
I’m putting more weight on the big play and Aiyuk has six receptions of 20+ yards and 18, which is second in the NFL.
Aiyuk is tenth in receiving yards, but he did miss one game.
Aiyuk is here because of the value he brings to the offense.
It’s one thing to rack up countless meaningless stats in garbage time.
Aiyuk has the 10th most first downs in the league, despite running roughly 100 fewer routes than everyone above him not named Tyreek Hill.
Only one player in the NFL has a higher yard per target and reception.
When Aiyuk touches the ball, it’s a first down.
Eighty-five percent of his catches result in a first down.
Whether you use hit rate to gauge his start-to-finish efficiency or EPA to measure Aiyuk’s big-play ability, he’s near the top in nearly every category.
He was the 49ers’ offensive MVP.
On the podium: Brock Purdy, George Kittle
Defensive MVP – Nick Bosa General Manager John Lynch, earlier this week on Bosa: “If you know football, turn this on.
The attention this guy gets, what he does to the people in front of him.
.
.in, under, he boos the guy, and usually it’s the guys because he gets so much attention.
If you expect opposing offenses to allow Nick Bosa, who won the defensive MVP a year ago, to repeat that success for the second straight season, then I’m unmoved product in Idaho that I want you to buy.
Bosa was double-teamed on most of the three shots.
And that doesn’t count when a running back or tight end is next to him for extra support.
Based on the eye test, Bosa still wins at an obnoxious rate.
The metrics back that up as well.
Bosa is third in PFF’s win percentage among all positions.
He’s third in total pressures and has hit the quarterback five more times than any player in the NFL.
Judging him by sacks ignores a lot of Bosa’s production and effectiveness.
He remains comfortably one of the top three edge rushers in the NFL and is the 49ers’ undisputed defensive MVP.
On the podium: Arik Armstead, Javon Hargrave Most surprising performance – Tackles by Fred Warner and Dre Greenlaw Warner is on track to have the most missed tackles of a season This is the student with the highest tackle rate.
He missed 20 tackles all year in 2022.
Warner had 15 tackles in eight games.
The same goes for Dre Greenlaw, who missed 22 tackles a season ago and had 16.
Greenlaw’s highest percentage of missed tackles in a season is 16.
3 percent.
He’s currently at 23.
5 percent.
That is not a Steve Wilks issue.
Not all missed tackles are created equally.
Fred or Dre could miss a tackle in the backfield, and that slows down the running back enough or forces him to redirect, and he still loses yards.
But there are enough examples this season of both players flat out whiffing in the hole and their misses leading to a first down.
The tackling, or lack thereof, is the reason San Francisco sits 22nd in rushing DVOA.
26th in EPA per rush and rushing success rate.
The defense is struggling to get off the field, and it’s because two of their best players are in position to make the tackle, but simply are not finishing.
That’s by far the biggest surprise when watching this 49ers team in 2023.
On the podium: Tashaun Gipson, offensive line He’s underrated – Aaron Banks The loss of left guard Aaron Banks to a toe injury for a few weeks won’t go unnoticed.
Banks is everything and more for the 49ers.
He’s only starting his second year, but you wouldn’t know based on his performance.
Trent Williams is one of the league leaders in blown block percentage, at 1.
2%.
That’s above the league average.
Banks stood at 1.
2%.
The former Notre Dame product has a lower run-blocking rate than Williams at 1.
5%, putting Banks in the top 30 among all offensive linemen in both rushing and passing rates.
Banks only allows one “trick” or tackle near the line of scrimmage to run and does not allow sacks.
The loss of banking could force the Niners to use Kittle more as a blocker.
But the offensive line has been excellent this season and Banks, beyond the obvious, is a big reason why.
