2022 Dynasty/Fantasy Preseason Week 1 Game Report: 49ers 28, Packers 21
No Aaron Rodgers, nor did most of the GB 1st-team play in this one. Trey Lance got two series and Jordan Love got two quarters. It was a sloppy game, but we did get glimpses of a few things to report out on/ponder…especially seeing the 49ers backup RB rotation/fight for touches…or just fighting to make the team.
Dynasty/Fantasy Player Notes…
-- The biggest thing I wanted to see from this game…and maybe from this Week 1, was Trey Lance (4-5 for 92 yards, 1 TD/0 INT, 1-7-0) in action. Yes, I know it was a preseason game against backup defenders…but that also means that I want to see him then wreck those backup defenders. If he were to struggle here…then I start to lose any warm and fuzzy feelings.
Four takeaways from Lance’s two series performance here…
1) He looked very comfortable and was accurate on all his throws. Not 100% accurate but considering the end results…accurate enough.
His first completion was simple. His second completion was a little flair pass to the TE a few yards off the line of scrimmage, and he threw it about 100mph and a bit high…but it was caught.
His one incomplete was him in the pocket in the middle of the field and throwing a timing pattern across the field to a WR breaking to the sidelines, and Lance kinda side-armed flicked it with ease 15+ yards downfield and right where only the WR could catch it…and he did, but out of bounds.
His TD throw was a clean pocket easy step and throw to a sprinting deep WR who was open by 2+ yards and Lance hit him near in-stride which allowed him to catch it deep on the run, and he kept running for a long TD. Lance’s deep ball throw was effortless and accurate.
2) Lance’s first play was dropping back in the pocket and then getting pressured from behind and he just took off up the middle for a quick/easy/smooth 7 yards. A reminder that he can run it well -- but it’s not his primary thought. Lance was pocket bound most of this game.
3) Lance has a big hitch in his throw. He tends to dip his arm from the normal ‘hold the ball high’ set up to dropping down, halfway down his side/end of ribs, and then launches what looks like a side arm-ish pass. It’s not ‘textbook’, but his arm is so good the time he loses in the dip/hitch, he makes up for with an effortless velocity.
4) Lance played/looked like he ‘belongs’. His body language was great. He looked confident. He looked engaged with his teammates. He looked happy. He did not look like a jittery young QB…like the one he faced in this game (Jordan Love).
With all the criticism of Lance and all the eyes uber-judging his every throw -- Lance played confident and happy. You want that…you want to see that -- versus him overthinking, over-mechanic’d, pressing, and being a loner on the field. You expect for it to be that way (confident, loose, happy)…and it was for Lance. I’ve watched 3-4 other preseason games before this one, at this point, and I can’t say that for many of the young QBs that I’ve watched so far.
All Lance’s plays here: https://youtu.be/t1b-KdwKVuA
-- Jordan Love (13-24 for 176 yards, 2 TDs/3 INTs) simply isn’t getting any better. He was the QB who played jittery, inaccurate, and with weak body language.
I’m closing the book on Love. There’s nothing here, in starter terms. A bad backup is his destiny. A colossal waste of a draft pick.
-- SF rookie QB Brock Purdy (3-6 for 36 yards, 1 TD/0 INT) played better than Jordan Love…and better than I expected. Purdy is a gritty competitor who is so small he looks like a middle schooler snuck onto the field -- but that dude can play alright. Not a star, just a competent backup.
I can describe Purdy’s work here for you as…he looked like ‘Honey, I Shrunk the Garoppolo’. He moves, and throws, and mechanically sets up like Jimmy G. -- just a half-sized version.
-- I don’t know if/what the SF RB rotation in this game means in the big picture, so I will just quick comment on what I saw from each guy…
Trey Sermon (6-11-0, 1-5-0/1) started and looked uninspiring, to say the least. Perhaps, the 49ers should stop taking RBs in the first two days of the draft, and only take ones in the 6th+ round or go UDFA. They seem to do better that way. Sermon does not look ‘improved’ that I see.
Rookie Tyrion Davis-Price (10-36-0, 0-0-0/1) was nothing special either…but give him ‘a pass’ for it being his rookie debut. Still, how he got taken in the top 100 is absolutely beyond me. He is no threat at all to magically becoming the starter.
JaMycal Hasty (5-36-0, 1-11-0/1) always looks solid, like an old school Devonta Freeman…and definitely better than Sermon or TDP, but Hasty will likely get cut so that the 3rd-round duds can be justified.
Rookie UDFA Jordan Mason (6-30-0) was easily the best-looking power back of the group. If SF wants a ‘big guy banger’ to help the cause…Mason fills that role way better than Davis-Price.
Elijah Mitchell (DNP) didn’t play because he is the clear lead back of the 49ers and gets special protection.
-- One Packer RB to mention…Iowa rookie RB Tyler Goodson (12-37-0, 2-24-0/3) -- he just does not have the juice to be an impact NFL RB. He will be a journeyman soon enough.
Maybe he just needs more time to hone his craft and might get the chance because he has good hands, but he’s likely headed to the practice squad and then bouncing around the league for years.
-- Three WR notes from this game…
Romeo Doubs (3-45-1/7) caught another long TD pass. I hear all the analysts echo the same words on him to sound smart/in the know every day for the past week -- every day in practice this guy makes a big play. Well, he had a big play TD here, so now they’ll be all a flutter this week talking about him some more.
What THEY won’t tell you, because they have no idea/they don’t watch or study anything, and they just lift the latest ‘words’ people are saying about a player and regurgitate them -- after Doubs’ TD in this game, he had a rough finish. His next target, he dropped a simple pass (which is not a crime, but no one is gonna mention/consider) and then he double caught/bobbled his next two catches after that, then had a catch that he bobbled around and had it stripped away by the CB for a pick that began as a Doubs catch. The ESPN highlight reel will only show the long TD catch.
Doubs is good, but he’s not the god he’s being made out to be.
Danny Gray (2-99-1/4) is arguably the better rookie WR over Doubs…both are good prospects, but not elite. Gray looked sharp in his time in this game…he was the recipient of the bomb TD from Lance. His catch out of bounds was arguably his best moment.
The guy who keeps catching my eye on the Packers is Amari Rodgers (1-22-0/2). He’s shaped up his body…looks leaner and faster. He has good hands and a good acceleration in routes, after the catch, and in the return game. Don’t write him off just yet. If Randall Cobb gets hurt (more WHEN than IF), Rodgers may pop into the spotlight a little bit.
-- Quick TE notes…
Josiah Deguara (2-12-0/3) and Tyler Davis (0-0-0/0) mixed and matched at TE to start…Davis not seeing any targets. These two might be the duo come Week 1 if Robert Tonyan is not ready coming off his ACL.
-- Two rookie IDP notes, both from SF…
Drake Jackson (1 PD) looked OK in his debut. Nothing special. Nothing that grabbed my attention. I’ve seen better rookie DE debuts, drafted later, in other preseason games.
CB Samuel Womack (2 INTs) got attention with a couple of picks…and overall energetic/good effort play.
