Continuing in the NFC West brings us to another team who had a brutal year regarding health but somehow seemed to keep it together despite multiple playmakers getting injured and even losing not one but two QBs to injury leaving them with their third string option leading the team. I am talking about none other than the San Francisco 49ers. I know you are wondering when we will get to some healthy teams in this offseason review but what fun is that?
San Francisco was able to make it all the way to the Conference championship after finishing 24th out of 32nd in average Banged Up Score position in the regular season. Now whether you want to attribute this to coaching strategy, player availability at injured positions, strength of schedule or even luck I don’t care. The fact that they were able to get to where they did with the injuries, they had was nothing short of impressive. Personally, I think it was due to offensive weapons that allowed some plug and play at the QB position but also having a starting QB as your 1st back-up helps.
That doesn’t mean though that the 49ers didn’t have to face adversity this season. In-fact, they may have had to face more than any team as it did seem like week in and week out, they had a new player on their injury report. The health woes weren’t just saved for the offense only either. Offense and defense felt the wrath with multiple starters and back-ups suffering everything from season ending injuries to nagging performance decreasing annoyances.
On defense, both defensive tackles Arik Armstead (Plantar Fasciitis) and Javon Kinlaw (Knee) had to miss multiple games including overlapping weeks for their respective injuries. In the secondary Emmanuel Moseley and Jason Verrett both had to nurse ACL injuries while Verrett also ruptured his Achilles upon return. Linebackers weren’t safe either as Azeez Al-Shaair was out six games for an MCL injury to his right knee.
On the offensive side of the ball everybody knows what happened to the QBs as Brock Purdy finished the season following injuries to both Trey Lance and Jimmy Garoppolo. Elijah Mitchell tore his MCL in his right knee week 1 and then his left week 12 after returning for only 2 weeks. Luckily, they brought in Christian McCaffrey who brought a needed spark to the offense that was being depleted one game at a time and apart from some bumps and bruises he was able to stay relatively healthy. WR Deebo Samuel injured his MCL and suffered a high ankle on the same play which forced him to miss 3 games, a short time for dealing with both of those simultaneously.
To be honest with you, the injuries mentioned are just the tip of the iceberg as they had starters and back-ups in multiple positions injured. The 49ers did have depth however and they consistently had players returning as others made their way onto the injury report. This kept their overall BUS trend moving as opposed to just a downward trend. They started their season with a steep fall but were able to settle the waters and climb back up especially after the bye week. They then took another steep dive hitting a season low 58.1 Banged Up Score before climbing yet again and finishing the post season at a respectable 74.2 considering all the injuries they faced throughout.
San Francisco was one of the few teams who were able to overcome some real health troubles this past season and still compete to a high level. Had they stayed healthy I truly believe they had a great shot at competing for a Super Bowl title however overcoming in season injuries and then the UCL injury to Brock Purdy in the conference championship just proved to be too much in the end. Something 49ers fans can hang onto is if healthy the 49ers have a lot of the right pieces to make a run for the championship next year if they can stay healthy and fill in a few small gaps.
The BUS review lets us all know where these teams stood in terms of their health ranking and why they were either so high or low in terms of health. Only one man can tell us which players can improve the team next year and that is [@Ryan Berger](https://twitter.com/Ryan Berger), to find out what those gaps are and who in the draft can fill them, make sure to check out the San Francisco’s “Rough Draft” tomorrow on thepredictors.com.
