It's time for our weekly look at the snap count totals for the San Francisco 49ers. Here are some playing time observations from the team's Week 2 road loss against the Seattle Seahawks. Below is a list of reps for each player, broken down by phase of the game.
Takeaways:
- The 49ers have a new left guard. Laken Tomlinson played 48/49 offensive snaps. At first glance, it appeared that Tomlinson held up very well against a talented Seahawks defensive front. Pierre Garçon was sacked just twice and hit only four times, opposed to the eight hits he took in Week 1. Part of that improvement is likely due to Tomlinson. Expect to see him remain in the starting lineup going forward.
- DeForest Buckner played 67/82 defensive snaps, proving that taking your star players out of the game is much easier said than done. Buckner and Arik Armstead, who also played 67 snaps, easily got the most playing time of any 49ers defensive lineman. Both played well against the Seahawks. Buckner had eight quarterback pressures according to Pro Football Focus and Armstead got his first sack of the season.
- After being a healthy inactive in Week 1, Aaron Lynch made his 2017 season debut. The pass-rusher got San Francisco's first sack of the season and was very active throughout the game. He played 30 snaps. That's more than Eli Harold (28) and Elvis Dumervil (22).
- Jimmie Ward also made his season debut after missing more than a month with a hamstring injury. The 49ers limited Ward to 38 snaps, but the safety played well and didn't appear to suffer any setbacks. His role is likely to increase in the weeks ahead, especially with Eric Reid likely to miss time due to a knee injury. Reid played 52 snaps as he left and returned to the field multiple times due to the injury. The 49ers finally called it a day for Reid after he left for the third time. He will get an MRI on Monday. Jaquiski Tartt played all 82 snaps, splitting time between free safety, strong safety and dime linebacker.
- Brock Coyle played his first six defensive snaps of the season as he spelled Ray-Ray Armstrong (68 snaps) for a few plays.
- Kyle Juszczyk was only on the field for 17 snaps (35 percent). He didn't run the ball and wasn't targeted in the passing game. It will be interesting to see what happens to his role. One would expect to see the 49ers try to integrate their "offensive weapon" more heavily into the gameplan.
