Over the past five years, the San Francisco 49ers have consistently been one of the truly elite teams in the NFL.
Aside from the 2020 season, where they were ravaged by injuries, they have at least reached the NFC Championship Game every year during that span and reached the Super Bowl twice.
They started out as a ground-and-book team that won primarily on defense, but their offense has gradually improved over the past few years, and one stat illustrates one aspect of that improvement.
According to Coach Yac, the number of passes dropped by 49ers receivers dropped from 37 in 2022 to just nine last season.
The 49ers have dropped passes over the last 5 seasons (as a team):
• 2019: 28
• 2020: 34
• 2021: 26
• 2022: 37
• 2023: 9The 49ers also had the fewest dropped passes in the league last season. Brock Purdy certainly throws a catchable ball
via: @pfref pic.twitter.com/e2nlaMmN6V
– Coach Yac 🗣 (@Coach_Yac) June 7, 2024
Much of this, as Coach Yac pointed out, could be attributed to the changing of the guard that took place at the quarterback position in late 2022.
When Jimmy Garoppolo, who had been almost their entire starter since midway through the 2017 season, suffered a season-ending injury in Week 13, then-rookie Brock Purdy took over at center and he quickly took the league by storm.
Although many still don’t want to admit how great he is, he has proven to be a more skilled passer than Garoppolo, especially on throws longer than 15-20 yards.
The arrival of star running back Christian McCaffrey midway through the 2022 campaign also greatly helped San Francisco’s offense, as he made their offense much more unpredictable.
Of course, San Francisco still hasn’t won the Vince Lombardi Trophy since the 1994 season, when head coach Kyle Shanahan’s father Mike was their offensive coordinator and McCaffrey’s father Ed was a wide receiver. wide for them.
Until the current 49ers team wins it all, the process simply won’t be complete.
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