Cary Edmondson-USA TODAY Sports
Tough task: 49ers can’t let Packers WR Davante Adams have another big game
Jan 21, 2022 at 1:20 PM
•
Davante Adams, the two-time first-team All-Pro and five-time Pro Bowler, is among the best wide receivers in the NFL. He's been one of quarterback Aaron Rodgers' most reliable weapons this season and will be someone the San Francisco 49ers defense has to slow down during Saturday's playoff game against the Green Bay Packers.
Adams has been a handful for the 49ers in recent years. The receiver has hauled in 48 receptions for 618 yards and five touchdowns in five meetings with the Niners since 2018, including the 2019 season's nine-reception, 138-yard performance in the NFC Championship Game. That's an average of nearly 124 yards per game. He's been dominant.
"I just think of how balanced he is and how his lower half is with his feet," head coach Kyle Shanahan said of Adams during his Thursday press conference. "He is a big guy who can always create an edge on a defender. And if you can create an edge on a defender wherever they're at, then you can always separate to explode away."
The Rodgers-to-Adams combination in 2021 produced career-highs in receptions (123) and receiving yards (1,553). The wideout also had 11 touchdowns this season. His receiving yards and receptions totals set Packers franchise records.
"Just from film, you can tell him and Aaron have just got great chemistry," 49ers safety Jaquiski Tartt said on Friday. "Sometimes Aaron just throws it up, and he's coming down with the ball, so they're playing with a lot of confidence."
Tartt and the defense will try to find a way to mitigate Adams' impact on Saturday's game. The receiver is used to it, though. He often battles double-coverage and sometimes triple-coverage (see the game against the Baltimore Ravens).
This season, the 49ers defense allowed the sixth-fewest passing yards in the NFL. Still, Adams recorded 12 receptions for 132 receiving yards and a touchdown during the Week 3 meeting at Levi's Stadium, so the San Francisco defense knows the challenge ahead of them.
Shanahan added, "And when you have the hands that he has, the size he has, the feet, the toughness, being one of the best receivers in the league and then pairing him with a quarterback who doesn't need much separation, who gets you the ball wherever he wants it, that's a very lethal combination that has made them win a lot of games here since they've been together."
Facebook Comments
More San Francisco 49ers News
Should QB Jimmy Garoppolo play another snap for the 49ers?
By Rohan Chakravarthi
May 17
The 2022 NFL Draft has come and gone, but San Francisco 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo remains on the roster as he rehabs from a shoulder injury that required surgery in early March.
For the past year, it has seemed apparent that the organization would move on from its veteran quarterback, as the 49ers were involved in talks with a number of free-agent quarterbacks last offseason, most notably Andy Dalton, and were also in the Matthew Stafford sweepstakes before the Rams ultimately traded for the longtime Lion.
Eventually, the 49ers moved forward with a pre-draft trade, moving three first-rounders and a third-rounder in exchange for the third overall selection, which the team ultimately used on Trey Lance, who started two games in 2021.
Garoppolo
Rapoport on the Deebo Samuel, 49ers situation: 'I think they can get it settled'
On Monday, NFL Network insider Ian Rapoport reported that San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Deebo Samuel would not attend the team's organized team activities, which start today. The wideout showing up would have gone a long way in the team's efforts to mend its relationship with the do-it-all star player, even if Samuel didn't participate in on-field activities. At least, that is what Rapoport expressed during a Monday interview on The Pat McAfee Show.
That doesn't mean Rapoport feels that situation is impossible to resolve. In fact, the NFL insider feels Samuel does eventually return to the 49ers, which wasn't a certainty in April when news broke that the wideout had
Kyle Shanahan still believes 49ers can mend relationship with Deebo Samuel
Deebo Samuel isn't with his San Francisco 49ers teammates during organized team activities. That shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone. These sessions are voluntary, and the receiver is entering the final year of his rookie contract. Head coach Kyle Shanahan remains optimistic that the 49ers can extend their star player despite Samuel asking to be traded this offseason.
On Tuesday, Shanahan told reporters that he expects Samuel to be in attendance when the 49ers hold a three-day mandatory minicamp starting on June 13. Does the coach believe the relationship between player and team can be mended?
"Yeah, of course I do," Shanahan responded. "I felt that last time I talked to you guys, at draft time. I feel the same, if not stronger."
Has there been
Do the 49ers have an issue at slot cornerback?
By Rohan Chakravarthi
3 hrs
Earlier this offseason, the San Francisco 49ers were left with a hole at slot cornerback following the departure of longtime veteran starter K'Waun Williams, who played five seasons with the team before joining the Denver Broncos on a one-year deal.
Fast-forward two months and the 49ers do not have an apparent solution to the vacancy, with general manager John Lynch openly stating that there would be an open competition for the position.
"I think what [defensive coordinator] DeMeco [Ryans] did on that staff last year, we were hurting at corner a large part of the year, to finish third in the league was pretty, a testament to DeMeco, his staff and to our players and we felt like we needed to add. You can't have enough good ones," Lynch said. "We had an open spot
