The San Francisco 49ers have faced the Seattle Seahawks three times in 2025. Kyle Shanahan’s offense put together 30 drives against Mike MacDonald’s defense. They scored two touchdowns.
In the first matchup, Ricky Pearsall had over 100 receiving yards, while Zach Charbonnet led Seattle on the ground. Neither player will wear the uniform this Sunday.
In the second matchup, the 49ers’ leading receiver was Jauan Jennings. Cornerback Riq Woolen had a pass breakup. These two belong to different teams.
In the playoff game, Kenneth Walker rushed for 116 yards, while Jake Tonges had a team-high receiving yards for the Niners. Walker is with the Chiefs, while Tonges is on injured reserve.
Have a WR1 like Mike Evans
Even in that Week 1 game, 45 of Pearsall’s 108 yards came on one play. Christian McCaffrey and Kyle Juszczyk each had 25-yard receptions. For the most part, the passing attack was kept in check because, as they showed in the next two games, no wideout could consistently get open.
Mike Evans is seventh in the NFL in EPA per target and fifth in target completion percentage. He represents what a true WR1 looks like. The only reason he’s seventh in Sumer Sports’ impact play metric is because he’s only been targeted 24 times. For reference, the six receivers ahead of Evans have at least 39 targets.
Kyle Shanahan moves Evans around the formation enough that defenses can’t control him. This led to incredible efficiency. Of Evans’ 17 receptions, 14 resulted in a first down or touchdown.
Seattle’s struggles are why you go out and find a receiver of Evans’ caliber.
In Week 18, the 49ers’ receivers were Jauan Jennings, Kendrick Bourne, Demarcus Robinson and Skyy Moore. It’s a completely different group this time around.
There is speed around Evans, which opened things up and allowed the 49ers to spread the field both vertically and horizontally. Evans doesn’t catch intermediate passes with Bourne or Jennings on the field because teams like Seattle don’t face deep threats.
Brock Purdy will also have George Kittle and Deebo Samuel, two players who were unavailable in the postseason.
A little best as linebacker
In these last two matchups, the 49ers started two players who were signed to the roster as recently as Thanksgiving, as well as Dee Winters. The fact that the Niners were so eager to move on from Winters this offseason, despite his rookie contract, tells us what they thought of him internally. Raheem Morris considers Garret Wallow a nickel linebacker, while Kendricks is 34 years old.
There were plays where Seattle ran to the outside, and Kendricks, understandably, was a little slow. Wallow would be gobbled up, while Winters’ best work would come directly on him or on coverage.
Quietly, the 49ers have been one of the better teams in outside zone defense – the Seahawks run some variation outside of the tackles 60% of the time. The Niners allowed 3.7 yards per play on outside zone runs, with an EPA of -0.045 per play. On 16 attempts, they made nine defensive stops.
It was a mixture of players on the limit. They did their job, but Fred Warner and Dre Greenlaw won the running race when the running backs tried to outrun them down the sideline.
In Week 18, Tatum Bethune and Winters combined for three missed tackles. Seattle torched Bethune in coverage, to the tune of 64 yards. Bethune achieved six of his seven goals. Wallow got lost on a coverage play, leading to a critical first down.
It goes without saying that Warner will have an impact on where Sam Darnold throws the ball. If he targets Warner seven times, Raheem Morris will take him all day. The linebacker upgrade cannot be undersold heading into this game.
Interior pressure + presence of edges
Yetur Gross-Matos was the only player to generate interior pressure against the Seahawks during the regular season. In those three games, five defensive tackles recorded seven run stops and five missed tackles.
Let’s look at the last two games of this season, since these are the defensive tackles who will play this week for the 49ers. Osa Odighizuwa has eight pressures. Gracen Halton and Sebastian Valdez have five impact plays. Naquan Jones made a few running stops and is holding strong.
The four defensive tackles on the field this year are all improvements from last year.
One of the most impressive areas of Week 3 was seeing the edge players play the run. Matt Judon played a snap, and it looked awesome. Romello Height is strong and wiry, while Keion White was a pleasant surprise.
The advantage who hasn’t played in the last two games is Mykel Williams. The 49ers’ run defense allowed half a yard more per play with Mykel off the field last season. First bet rate and EPA per game were slightly better.
What you can’t quantify is a player his size going up against tight ends. These are victories for Williams. Or have Mykel pull blockers instead of your designated passers, like Height.
Even if Williams only plays 30 snaps, you keep Height, Okoronkwo and Khalid Kareem fresh. The domino effect of returning a first-rounder has immense benefits for the Niners’ defense.
Gn sports
