6 Takeaways From The 49ers Coordinators: Jordan Watkins Is ‘going To Get Some Ops’

Both San Francisco 49ers coordinators, Raheem Morris and Klay Kubiak, speak every Thursday. We’ll start having takeaways from their media sessions to see if they give any hints about what’s to come for the upcoming game.

For the second week in a row, the 49ers offense and defense exceeded expectations. Morris is doing it without some key contributors along the defensive line. For the next few weeks, Morris will be without his best player.

Defensive coordinator Raheem Morris

“Next man up, mentality.”

The 49ers lost Nick Bosa, CJ West, and James Thompson Jr. two weeks after losing Sam Okuayinonu and Alfred Collins. That’s more than half the defensive linemen who made the roster heading into Week 1.

Morris said what every coach would say in this situation, “We’ve got to step up. Next-man-up mentality. It’s unfortunate what happened to C.J. because he took a step forward this game, just like everybody else did when it comes to that matter. But, really excited about the next guy to go out there and get the opportunity to do it.”

Naquan Jones and one of the practice squad trio of Sebastian Valdez, Kevin Givens, or McKinnley Jackson are the candidates for “next man-up.”

Osa Odighizuwa (70 snaps) and Gracen Halton (58) out-snapped West (47) and Thompson (39) through two games, but that’s a lot of volume to replace, especially for a defense that’s started each game in 5-man fronts.

Through the first two weeks of the season, the 49ers have used 5-man fronts on 37% of their snaps — 4% above league average — compared to four-down fronts 58% of the time.

When injuries eat into your depth the way they have early on, it

Nick Bosa’s been ‘dominant’ without a sack

Before Bosa’s injury, Morris was asked how teams are game-planning for Bosa, and what he’s seen from Bosa so far.

Morris said, “He’s been really the most dominant player without a sack. I mean, I have to say he’s been awesome. You know, when he’s rushing the passer, the first play of the game, the first play of the season, was absolutely outstanding.

You know, this week checking around Willis and he just forgot how to sack people. But other than that, man, I’ve joked with him this weekend, but other than that, he’s been awesome. We’ll see moving forward all the stuff that happens with him, but he’s been playing great.”

Sumer Sports charts “impact” plays. On a per-snap basis, only Texans’ pass rusher Will Anderson Jr. and Blls’ edge rusher Greg Rousseau have more impact plays than Bosa. His pressures and wins have directly led to sacks for his teammates.

No offensive coordinator in their right mind will ignore Bosa when he’s on the field. It opens up opportunities for players like Keion White to rush inside, where he’s been flying under the radar. The trickle effect of not having Bosa on the field is role players like White being asked to do things you normally wouldn’t ask of them.

It’s easy to take for granted how dominant Bosa is, but he didn’t miss a beat coming off injury. Ogbo Okoronkwo is 11th in pressure percentage. To me, that’s a Bosa stat.

An actual Bosa stat and where they’ll miss him the most is Bosa’s run defense. Only Anderson Jr. has more run stops than Bosa at their position.

“One of the plays I didn’t like this week was kind of on me”

Speaking of the run defense, Morris gave a long-winded answer:

“It’s continued to get better every time. You know, the first week we give up probably four or five runs that you want back. It might’ve even been a little more in the Rams game.

This game, it got cut down to about three. And there’s always different things. You always have some things where you have, one we had a bad alignment.

One I thought was a holding. One of the plays that I didn’t like this week was kind of on me. It was third down and long. They caught us in a conversion down. They popped the run. Some of those situations happen, whether it was the 17-yarder, the nine-yarder, the eight-yarder.

You know, those things happen, but I did like how fast we played in the runs that we played really well. That’s starting to breed understanding. I think [LB] Fred [Warner] alluded to it earlier, but sometimes I say things in the game, it’s the first time you actually hear it in the game. You’ve got to go out there and execute it when you’re playing tackle football.

It’s not always going to be perfect, but I do like the natural development the guys have taken. We went from probably, and I’m guessing, we probably went from about eight runs in that first game that you didn’t like to maybe cut it down to three or four in this game that you just didn’t like. There was always some things you can clean up, but I really like where the guys are going and how the understanding is starting to come together.”

In Week 1, the Rams had success with the second defensive line unit came on the field. In Week 2, it was much of the same. Outside of some early second quarter runs in both games, the run defense has been fine.

But that was before the 49ers needed to rely on players who weren’t on the roster as recent as two weeks ago.

The Gracen Halton revelation

A couple of players Morris may lean into more are Gracen Halton and Osa Odighizuwa. Morris liked what he saw from the rookie against the Dolphins:

“He played well. He had some good plays, had some rookie plays. You know, there’s always going to be some ups, always going to be some downs, but really excited to see. I think he got a tackle for loss that I can remember, had a nice celebration on. Did some really good things, gave us great energy, great juice inside there. Plays bigger than his actual stature. Did a lot of really cool things. Really excited about where he’s going to go and what he can do for the Niners.”

Halton has been a pleasant surprise against the run. Morris was asked whether he was surprised by Halton’s run defense:

“I think I said this before, but his movement was not the surprise. He had great movement and things like that in Oklahoma. His natural ability to move around and kind of stunt and do some things like that. We thought we would get like this guy that can really help out in the pass rush. We knew that right away. But, when he got here, really shocked us with his ability to use his hands and played well in the run game and be able to be stout and do some real cool things there. I forget when we kind of got that revelation. I think it was sometime in camp, we put the pads on for sure, but his ability to go out there and play the run for us is really good as well. We’re excited about that with him going forward.”

Morris compared Halton to Rams’ defensive tackle Kobie Turner, and finished by saying, “Really smart, really sharp young man. Really excited about him.”

Offensive coordinator Klay Kubiak

Brandin Cooks’ ‘reputation kind of precedes itself’

Cooks played with the Rams back in 2018 and 2019. Kubiak said because Cooks has been in essentially every scheme, he’ll naturally have familiarity with things like the 49ers route tree and some formations, but playbooks evolve, so maybe his Rams tenure helped “just a little bit.”

Kubiak sounded like he’s been impressed with Cooks’ work ethic:

“Yeah, good to have him here. He’s a pro. He’s been doing it a long time. He’s a worker. Everything. His reputation kind of precedes itself. He’s a heck of a worker. Everywhere he’s been, people just talk about how hard he practices, obviously how hard he plays. He’s a vet. He’s picking up our offense quick. It’s good to have him out there and get him involved and just get him incorporated into our offense. So, he’s been a pleasure to have.”

Cooks grew up a 49ers fan and was born and raised in Stockon, California. Getting an opportunity with the 49ers, even if it isn’t this week, has to be a dream come true.

“Jordan’s going to get his opportunities”

It might be too much to ask to expect anything from Cooks after he’s been in the building for a few days. We’ll see how the 49ers elect to replace Demarcus Robinson, who is tied for the second-most snaps played behind Mike Evans with Deebo Samuel.

There’s a big drop-off after the top three — it’s really four, if you count De’Zhaun Stribling. Jacob Cowing and KhaDarel Hodge have combined for one target. Robinson has six.

After being inactive for the first two games, second-year pro Jordan Watkins will get his first chance of the season, according to Kubiak:

“He’s going to get some ops. It’s unfortunate why guys have to get elevated with injuries, but Jordan’s going to get his opportunities and he’s going to be called upon at some moment in these games. We’re going to need him.

And is he ready to make the play? Is he on his assignments on the details? Is he executing in the run game? It’s just going to come down to Jordan going out there and playing good football and executing when his number’s called. That’s all we’re asking of him. It’s all we’re asking of anybody. But it’s a good opportunity for him.

He’s been working really hard. I’m really proud of how he’s kind of approached these past few weeks of the season, just working on the scout team and getting ready to go. And he’s going to get an op here. So, we’ll see how he plays, but I’m excited for Jordan to see him get out there.”

Cowing and Hodge play roles on special teams. That’s not something the 49ers have asked Watkins to do.

Each three are vastly different receivers. Cowing has the highest upside, but Hodge may have the highest floor. Watkins likely lands somewhere in the middle. There’s much more to wide receiver than running routes, as Kubiak highlighted.