It wasn’t always pretty, but it was a win.
Let’s be honest — the Saints aren’t good. Beating them by five points isn’t a huge accomplishment. But the 49ers were missing lots of starters, including their quarterback, Brock Purdy, and yet they still found a way to win on the road. And now, they’re 2-0.
Here are the 49ers’ whose stock rose the most this week.
After the struggles the 49ers had developing Trey Lance, Brock Purdy seemed like a savior, as if he were the only quarterback who could run this offense at a high level. Then Mac Jones came along and reminded everyone that even Jimmy Garoppolo was effective in this system. Jones already seems much better than Garoppolo ever was, in the sense that Jones has a stronger arm, is somewhat mobile, and makes good decisions.
Against the Saints, Jones didn’t force any passes into double coverage. And yet, he still finished the game with 279 passing yards and three touchdowns, which means he saw the field extremely well. Granted, he was facing the Saints. Still, it’s hard to imagine Purdy playing much better. Suddenly, the 49ers have two starting quarterbacks on their roster, and both of them are good. It’s just that one makes roughly $50 million more per season than the other one does.
For the first six quarters of this season, Jauan Jennings seemed rusty. Which is understandable, considering he sat out training camp. Last year, Brandon Aiyuk held out and then was extremely rusty for seven weeks before he tore his ACL and MCL. So it was unclear when or if Jennings would hit his stride this season.
Apparently, he hit in the second half against the Saints. Suddenly, he re-emerged as the go-to guy in the 49ers’ passing game and made the catch of the game — a 42-yard touchdown grab over the middle. He is going to get a ton of money in free agency next year, and he deserves it.
We already knew Farrell is a terrific blocker from his time with the Jaguars. But in 67 career games, he never had scored a touchdown. That changed on Sunday, when Farrell caught a pass in the flat, turned upfield, broke a tackle and scored. Suddenly, he looks like a real weapon for the 49ers, someone who can start in place of fullback Kyle Juszczyk, who suffered a concussion against the Saints.
Huff isn’t a particularly good run defender, which is why he doesn’t start for the 49ers. But he sure finishes games for them. On Sunday, he sealed the victory by exploding around the edge and stripping the ball away from Saints quarterback Spencer Rattler before he knew what happened. Huff is the most explosive edge rusher the 49ers ever have had opposite Nick Bosa — even more explosive than Dee Ford, who was injured during his entire 49ers tenure.
Williams isn’t much of a pass rusher yet, because he doesn’t have many moves, although he is beginning to push the pocket, which is good. Think of him as a smaller, younger Arik Armstead, who never had many moves. Like Armstead, Williams is an elite run defender. On Sunday, he recorded two tackles for loss and played much better overall than he did in his NFL debut last week. His stock is rising fast.
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