Much has been questioned about the two total snaps by former second-round draft pick, wide receiver Dante Pettis, during the San Francisco 49ers' 31-17 victory on Sunday against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. An even higher draft pick, however, also had limited snaps during the regular-season opener in Tampa.
Defensive tackle Solomon Thomas, the No. 3 overall pick by the 49ers in head coach Kyle Shanahan's and general manager John Lynch's first-ever draft together, was in on just 12 of the defense's 70 total snaps on Sunday. Jullian Taylor was the only defensive lineman with fewer snaps (6).
Thomas was also blanked out of the stat sheet.
Head coach Kyle Shanahan spoke with reporters on Monday via a conference call from Youngstown, Ohio, where the team is practicing this week in preparation for its Week 2 contest against the Cincinnati Bengals. The coach was asked about Thomas' limited playing time.
"I expected him to play a little bit more than that," Shanahan responded. "We've also got a pretty deep D-line group, and (defensive line coach Kris) Kocurek rotates them throughout the game, and how he feels according to what personnel they're doing, what the down and distance is.
"You know, Solly isn't starting on the outside or the inside, but he's one of our key guys right behind all four of those positions. So there's games that will play out where he'll play more, and then there's some where he'll play less.
"I knew he wasn't going to get more reps than some of the starting guys did, but I thought he would get more than 12. But it worked out that way."
Thomas is in his third NFL season and racked up 72 total tackles with four sacks in his first two seasons.