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49ers' free-agency plan clearly shaped by Super Bowl loss
Kansas City Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes celebrates after taking down the San Francisco 49ers in the Super Bowl Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

49ers' free-agency plan clearly shaped by Super Bowl loss to Patrick Mahomes

By Michael Gallagher  |  Last updated 3/15/24

The San Francisco 49ers can point to a number of reasons for February's 25-22 overtime loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LVIII.

But arguably the team’s biggest flaw in that game was its inability to stop Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes.

As evidenced by the moves San Francisco has made three days into the new league year, it’s clear by the premium the team has put on getting to the quarterback and being more stout at the line of scrimmage that the Mahomes effect is real.

The 49ers lost quite a few key pieces of their front seven including edge-rushers Chase Young, Clelin Ferrell and Randy Gregory plus defensive tackles Arik Armstead and Javon Kinlaw. The quintet combined for 177 pressures, 125 hurries, 19 tackles for loss, 17 sacks and a pass-rush win rate of 11.5% in 2023.

While it’s not exactly an even swap in terms of production, SF replaced those players with edge-rushers Leonard Floyd and Yetur Gross-Matos and defensive tackles Maliek Collins and Jordan Elliott, who combined for 125 pressures, 72 hurries, 26 tackles for loss, 22.5 sacks and a pass-rush win rate of 10.2% in 2023.

Floyd’s addition gives the 49ers a legitimate pass-rush threat opposite Nick Bosa. He’s totaled nine or more sacks, 45 or more pressures and 25 or more hurries in each of the last four seasons, including a career-high 10.5 sacks in 2023. 

Floyd has the proven track record of pressuring the passer that the 49ers thought they were getting in Young, who posted just four pressures, one sack and two hurries of Mahomes in the Super Bowl.

Collins provides both pass-rushing and run-stopping prowess. He was third on the Texans this season with 48 pressures and 28 hurries and he added five sacks and eight tackles for loss in addition to 20 tackles and 17 stops (a tackle behind the line of scrimmage) on designed run plays.

Collins' 6-foot-2, 310-pound frame will pair nicely in the middle of the 49ers’ defensive line next to fellow defensive tackle Javon Hargrave, who accumulated 64 pressures, 48 hurries, seven sacks and eight tackles for loss in his first season in San Francisco.

Gross-Matos can fill the situational pass-rusher role that 49ers reserved for Ferrell, who did not play in the Super Bowl. A former second-round pick, Gross-Matos posted 19 pressures, nine hurries, six tackles for loss and 4.5 sacks in only 11 games this past season.

In addition to the bolstering of the pass rush, the 49ers also needed to shore up their run defense. They surrendered 130 rushing yards in the Super Bowl, 66 of which were gained by Mahomes.

The quarterback's rushing success was in part because the 49ers were without linebacker Dre Greenlaw for most of the game after he tore his Achilles early in the second quarter. With his injury status unknown (he could miss a game or two at the start of the season), SF added some insurance at linebacker this week with former Green Bay Packers All-Pro De’Vondre Campbell.

The 30-year-old Campbell plays the run a bit more than Greenlaw, who specializes more as a coverage linebacker. A bigger percentage of his 2023 snaps came in run coverage (40.1) than Greenlaw’s (30.8), and he accounted for 33 tackles and 13 stops on designed run plays.

Campbell's presence gives the 49ers a linebacker who can operate as a quarterback spy and guard the line of scrimmage – something the team could have used in overtime when Mahomes gashed them for 27 combined rushing yards on fourth-and-1 and third-and-1 situations to keep Kansas City's final drive alive.

It’s clear the 49ers expect to be back in the Super Bowl again in 2025. In fact, they have opened as the betting favorites (+550) to win Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans, per DraftKings.

There’s a good chance if that happens they could see Mahomes and the Chiefs again. The Chiefs have added some firepower of their own in their chase for the first three-peat in NFL history, again.

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