Five Things to Watch in the 49ers' Preseason Game Against the Titans

Is Brandon Aiyuk there?

Grant Cohn | Aug 10, 2024

Jul 26, 2024; Santa Clara, CA, USA; San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Deebo Samuel talks to the press during Day 4 of training camp at SAP Performance Facility. Mandatory Credit: D. Ross Cameron-USA TODAY Sports / D. Ross Cameron-USA TODAY Sports

In this story:

San Francisco 49ers

The 49ers play a preseason game against the Titans tonight. Here are five things to watch.

1. Is Brandon Aiyuk there?

He shows up to meetings every day so he can't get fined, but he doesn't come out to practice anymore -- I'm guessing the 49ers politely asked him to stay inside away from reporters so he's not a distraction. Will they bring him to Nashville for this game? And if so, how many times will the television show his unhappy face?

2. Is Joshua Dobbs or Brandon Allen any good?

The 49ers are having the most boring backup quarterback competition of all time this offseason. Neither Dobbs nor Allen provides any excitement or intrigue. They're both career backups who don't have the potential to become starters. And both have struggled big time during training camp. Will either one assert himself in preseason, or will the 49ers have to give undrafted rookie Tanner Mordecai a shot?

3. How do the 49ers approach the new kickoff rules?

Which players are the kick returners? Who has the most success returning the kicks? And how does Jake Moody kick off? Does he squib the ball and force the other team to field it off the turf, or does he try to kick it to one particular side of the field? So many questions will be answered regarding this particular play.

4. Does Cody Schrader's impressive training camp carry over to the preseason?

In practice, Schrader looks like a veteran. He's quick and decisive, he can run between the tackles and catch passes -- he looks like a mini Christian McCaffrey. But it's practice. No one can tackle him. What will he look like when he gets hit for real? Will he look like an undrafted free agent who doesn't belong on the 53-man roster, or will he shine?

5. Is Jaylon Moore better than Colton McKivitz?

Moore is the backup left tackle and McKivitz is the starting right tackle. In camp, Moore has been decidedly better in pass protection than McKivitz. If that carries over to the preseason, shouldn't Moore replace McKivitz at right tackle? Don't they want to protect their franchise quarterback, Brock Purdy?

Published Aug 10, 2024

GRANT COHN

Grant Cohn has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily since 2011. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat where he wrote the Inside the 49ers blog and covered famous coaches and athletes such as Jim Harbaugh, Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Willis. In 2012, Inside the 49ers won Sports Blog of the Year from the Peninsula Press Club. In 2020, Cohn joined FanNation and began writing All49ers. In addition, he created a YouTube channel which has become the go-to place on YouTube to consume 49ers content. Cohn's channel typically generates roughly 3.5 million viewers per month, while the 49ers' official YouTube channel generates roughly 1.5 million viewers per month. Cohn live streams almost every day and posts videos hourly during the football season. Cohn is committed to asking the questions that 49ers fans want answered, and providing the most honest and interactive coverage in the country. His loyalty is to the reader and the viewer, not the team or any player or coach. Cohn is a new-age multimedia journalist with an old-school mentality, because his father is Lowell Cohn, the legendary sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1979 to 1993. The two have a live podcast every Tuesday. Grant Cohn grew up in Oakland and studied English Literature at UCLA from 2006 to 2010. He currently lives in Oakland with his wife.