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Why the 49ers Are Throwing So Few Play-Action Passes This Season

On Wednesday, I asked Shanahan why he's calling so few play-action passes this season. Here's what he said.

Grant Cohn

Sep 15, 2024; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy (13) warms up before the game against the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeffrey Becker-Imagn Images
Sep 15, 2024; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy (13) warms up before the game against the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeffrey Becker-Imagn Images / Jeffrey Becker-Imagn Images
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SANTA CLARA -- The 49ers offense looks different this season.

It's usually based on run plays and play-action passes that look nearly identical. But through two games this season, only 13 percent of Brock Purdy's passes have been play-action. That's the second-lowest rate in the NFL.

On Wednesday, I asked Shanahan why he's calling so few play-action passes this season. Here's what he said:

"Just schematic reasons, who we were going against, what's good versus these teams? Sometimes, when play-action doesn't do much for six on the line, doesn't do much for a lot of blitzes things like that. So that a little factored to do with the last week. I’d say the week before, running it 38 times limits everything a little bit."

TRANSLATION: Shahanahan doesn't like to call play-action passes when the opposing defense presents a blitz before the snap. Which means if a defense simply puts six potential pass rushers on the line of scrimmage, Shanahan will check to a drop-back passing play. The defense doesn't even have to rush all six defenders -- it merely has to threaten to rush them, and Shanahan will change his entire offensive philosophy.

No wonder the Vikings had so much success against the 49ers the past two seasons. The Vikings blitz more than any other team, so they're a tough matchup for Shanahan. Against Minnesota, he has to focus on his drop-back passing game, which is the weakest part of his playbook according to former head coach Jay Gruden.

Sounds like the league is beginning to figure out Shanahan.

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Grant Cohn
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.

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