SANTA CLARA — We’re seeing a very good 49ers football team being born before our very eyes and the birth is happening faster than anyone could have expected, particularly after that 0-9 belly-flop out of the womb.
Levi’s Stadium was legitimately pulsating Sunday throughout the 49ers’ 44-33 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars. This team that for the first half of the year was running gaffe-for-gaffe with the Cleveland Browns as the NFL’s most motley is now doing the most wondrous things, like working over a Jaguars defense that has been terrorizing the league all year.
We could give you the easy answer to it all — Jimmy Garoppolo — and just walk away. Although he knows better, rookie tight end George Kittle would be fine with that.
“Jimmy’s pretty good, isn’t he?” Kittle said, his eyes lighting up at the mere mention of his quarterback’s name. “He’s pretty fun to watch, right? Holy cow. It’s awesome. Jimmy’s so awesome.”
Yes, holy cow, he is pretty awesome. But as fantastic as Garoppolo has been since assuming the starting quarterback job four games ago, terrific contributions to victories are being made by a whole bunch of guys who weren’t even on the roster in 2016. It reflects the depth of imprint new general manager John Lynch already has made on the roster in less than a year and tells a more accurate story of this franchise’s startling turnaround.
In the final accounting, just acquiring Garoppolo for a second-round pick at midseason is going to garner Lynch a lot of lobbying for NFL Executive of the Year in his first season as a G.M. But just take this game and look at how many new faces had impact, it’s pretty staggering. They go far beyond the sensational gunslinger under center.
If you’re a 49ers fan, you should be smiling ear to ear just by the rookie draft class alone. Three of them scored touchdowns Sunday — Kittle, wide receiver Trent Taylor and tailback Matt Breida. Another one, Ahkello Witherspoon, had a pivotal interception. Add in defensive starters Solomon Thomas and Reuben Foster and that’s some kind of volume impact from your first-year draftees.
Free agents signees? Wide receiver Marquise Goodwin moved ever closer to a 1,000-yard receiving season with three more catches. Fullback Kyle Juszczyk, who’s headed to the Pro Bowl, had another banner day with five grabs for 76 yards and did all the little things fullbacks must do in coach Kyle Shanahan’s offense. Those grizzled vets up front, Elvis Dumervil and Earl Mitchell, continue to complement the up-and-coming young studs Thomas and DeForest Buckner.
And then there was 5-foot-9 nickel cornerback K’Waun Williams, who may have made the play of the game in the third quarter with a spectacular one-handed leaping interception of a Blake Bortles pass that stopped a surge of 19 consecutive Jacksonville points.
“First one (in the NFL),” said Williams with a wide smile afterward. “Might as well make it look epic, huh?”
It was epic in Shanahan’s mind, to be sure.
“When K’Waun made that play, I felt we just got the momentum back and they just fed off each other from there,” the coach said.
Following Williams’ pick, accentuated by a 27-yard return, it only took five plays to get in the end zone and reclaim the lead on an eight-yard laser from Garoppolo to Kittle, who fell backward into the end zone clutching the ball for all he was worth. The 49ers would not fall behind again.
Shanahan may be a low-key sort in his postgame press conferences, but there’s no question he’s elated by the maturation all of his rookies are showing at the end of the season.
“We put a lot of pressure on those guys early in the year, playing them sometimes a little bit more than they were totally ready for, and we had to be patient in that aspect,” Shanahan said. “When that happens, some guys kinda fold and think it’s a little too hard and they get worse. They just look for somebody to save them. But those guys have grinded every single day. They are deliberate in everything they do, and when you have people like that, it’s usually just a matter of time before they get better.”
Noted Breida, whose 30-yard left-end pitch-and-run was a thing of beauty and an incredible call by Shanahan, all the rookies are finally starting to get their groove on.
“At first it was all too fast for us and we were struggling a little bit,” Breida said. “But I feel that’s benefitting us now and you can see it paying off.”
Added Kittle, “I’m not going to lie, the first couple of games of the season my head was spinning. You just kind of learn week-by-week, and I feel like everybody’s come such a long way. I think that’s just going to keep carrying over.”
As for Williams, an undrafted defensive back out of Pitt, Shanahan remembered his work ethic when both were with Cleveland two years ago. Even though the coach admitted he probably didn’t say three words to him while they were there, he didn’t forget what he was made of.
“I just watched how he went about his work every day,” Shanahan said. “He came in our rookie tryout camp and made our team. He ended up starting that whole year as a nickel and did a hell of a job. I remember him getting after guys in practice every day. So I was very familiar with the type of person he is, and once we got him into camp, we could see he was still the same player. He’s the kind of guy you want to make sure you keep around.”
The 49ers didn’t just add Williams to the roster. They made a long-term commitment to him, signing him to a three-year, $10 million contract. This is how you build a winning football team — all the bricks you add are important.
So while Garoppolo may be the poster boy of this remarkable resurrection — and deservedly so — there is a formidable supporting cast that appears to be growing up around him. What’s so promising is this grand birth is still in its infant stages. It should make you fantasize about how grown up these 49ers could be a year from now.
