NFL Box Score Breakdown: Rams-49ers Recap & Usage Stats

The second game of the NFL season didn't offer fourth-quarter drama, but it was just as interesting as Wednesday's Patriots-Seahawks matchup in terms of fantasy storylines and intrigue, not to mention the oddity of playing in Australia and the debate over the teams' contrasting travel plans. Team Shanahan got the better of that one, and they also gave us plenty to debate from a fantasy perspective.

Kaelon Black handled the largest pre-blowout role ever seen from one of Christian McCaffrey's backups, and rookie wideout De'Zhaun Stribling got the start over Deebo Samuel, only to exit with an ankle injury midway through the second quarter. George Kittle, meanwhile, finished with just two catches for 12 yards despite seeing an early flurry of targets.

Mike Evans impressed in his San Francisco debut, using his size to dominate on third downs and near the red zone en route to a 6-49-1 receiving line. Samuel actually ended up leading the 49ers in PPR points, benefitting from some early schemed touches before Stribling's injury opened up more routes (though Demarcus Robinson also had a big role, and scored a long TD).

The Los Angeles side of the game didn't offer as many big usage surprises, but there's still plenty to discuss. I'll get into all of the details below, looking at personnel groupings, usage rates, snap counts and more, including pre-injury and pre-blowout splits when relevant.  

Stats come from NFL Next Gen unless otherwise specified. Bold and blue lettering denote strong/high numbers relative to the player's pre-2026 baseline. Italics and red lettering denote poor/low numbers relative to the player's pre-2026 baseline. Keep in mind that it's a one-game sample, so there's not necessarily a reaction or conclusion for each high/low number. In many cases it's just something to keep track of over the next few weeks, not anything that needs to be acted on immediately.

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49ers (27) at Rams (7)

49ers Personnel:   11p - 28.1%  |  12p - 18.8%  |  21p - 42.2%  |  22p - 9.4%

64 Plays (2nd/4)  /  36 Dropbacks (56%)  /  3.6% PROE (1st/4)

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4.6 aDOT — 25-of-34 for 205 yards — 3 TDs, 1 INT, 0 sacks, 2 scrambles

• The 49ers opened pass-heavy with Brock Purdy dropping back on 18 of 23 plays (78%) over the first three drives and producing a FG, an INT and a punt. The 49ers then called run plays on at least 40% of snaps every subsequent drive, shifting to a balanced approach before running out the clock at the very end.
  • San Francisco's PROE was +15.1% over the first three drives and -2.9% for the rest of the game.
  • The 49ers were mostly throwing from two-WR formations, using 11 personnel on 35% of snaps over the first three drives and 24% of snaps the rest of the game.
• Purdy threw a bad pick on the third drive, trying to force the ball to Kittle on a 1st-and-10. Besides that, Purdy was excellent, avoiding negative plays and completing short passes (4.6 aDOT), with one deep TD to Demarcus Robinson.
  • Purdy threw 38.2% of his passes at/behind the LOS, while only 17.7% travelled 10+ yards downfield. The TD to Robinson was one of just two deep targets.

Backfield

• RB Kaelon Black took 44% of snaps and 45% of RB opportunities, finishing with 16 carries for 68 yards (and one catch for five yards) even though Christian McCaffrey played deep into the fourth quarter (CMC was actually on the field for what ended up being San Francisco's final offensive snap).
  • Black was heavily involved from the jump, taking two carries on the opening drive and playing 41% of snaps in the first quarter. He ultimately played at least 36% of snaps in every quarter.
  • Black took 48% of snaps on 1st downs, 52% on 2nd downs, 17% on 3rd downs.
  • While still unlikely to have standalone value in mainstream fantasy leagues, Black's strong role in Week 1 suggests he could see massive usage in the event of a CMC absence down the road. Of course, the odds of said absence actually happening are lower when McCaffrey is playing less. Fewer snaps/hits = lower injury risk, regardless of the player, situation, etc. It may seem weird to think of it like this, but CMC's injury rate on a per-touch or per-tackle basis is actually among the best of any modern RB. Anyway...
• RB Christian McCaffrey led the team with eight targets, but even his 50% route share (19 routes) represents a considerable drop compared to last year when he led all RBs with 31 routes per game.
  • I doubt McCaffrey actually gets stuck in a 50/50 split with Black all season, but we can't entirely write this off just because it was Week 1, or because the game was in Australia, or because McCaffrey missed some practice time this summer. All of those things merit consideration, but we also saw Kyle Shanahan still using CMC in garbage time, which would be odd if the team were overly concerned about any of the aforementioned factors. Projecting the workload split for Week 2 involves a lot of guesswork, but it's fair to say that CMC belongs south of his accustomed usage shares and north of what we saw in Week 1. That's a wide gap to bridge, and arguably the difference between being a low-end RB1 or a mega-elite one. He certainly doesn't look washed up, so some of this may depend on Black's performance, not just CMC durability/maintenance concerns.
  • Upcoming home games against Miami and Arizona could allow McCaffrey and Black to both get double-digit carries, but that won't be the case all year, including in October when the 49ers run into the Broncos (Week 4) and Seahawks (Week 5).
  • McCaffrey struggled to get going early, but he broke a couple of nice runs in the third quarter and looked like his usual self on the few occasions when he had some grass in front of him.
  • I have CMC ranked as a 1-2 turn pick ROS, pending results of all the other games and what not. I had him ranked fifth overall before Thursday's game, ahead of JSN and Jonathan Taylor.

Pass Catchers

• WR De'Zhaun Stribling not only got the start over Deebo Samuel (in 21 personnel) but actually led the 49ers in snaps and routes before exiting with an ankle injury midway through the second quarter.
  • Stribling finished without a target on 13 routes while taking 81% of his snaps out wide. 
  • He's reportedly dealing with an ankle injury, not an Achilles injury, so he should be back at some point. There hasn't been much hint of whether he's looking at a multi-week absence or more in the day-to-day or week-to-week categories.
• WR Mike Evans was fantastic, making three third-down grabs on the opening drive and later adding a TD. The yardage may not look impressive, but all six of Evans' catches went for a first down or a touchdown. The 49ers repeatedly relied on his size and strength to complete short/intermediate passes in big spots (it helps when your reputation as a deep threat forces defenders to respect that).
  • Evans made a couple of nice grabs from the slot, but he took 83% of his snaps on the perimeter, as expected.
• WR Deebo Samuel saw two targets on the first drive and finished with 18 PPR points on seven touches, but his playing time was far less encouraging, even after Stribling's early exit.
  • From San Francisco's fifth drive through the end of the game, Samuel played nine of nine snaps in 11 personnel (100%) but just three of 23 snaps (13%) otherwise.
  • The good news? Samuel drew targets on 38% of routes. That was a common theme, with he, Kittle and McCaffrey all topping 35% TPRR while playing fewer snaps than they're used to. We'll see how that evolves throughout the season in each case.
• WR Demarcus Robinson played 91% of snaps from the fifth drive (post-Stribling) through the end of the game.
  • Evans wasn't far behind at 88%. He took only 63% of snaps over the first four drives, but that was partially due to strong per-snap usage.
  • Robinson also had a role before Stribling's exit, playing 34% of snaps on the first four drives.
• TE George Kittle drew four targets on the opening drive, with at least two being schemed looks, but his role faded throughout the night and he didn't see any more targets after Purdy tried to force him the ball on an INT that ended the third drive.
  • Kittle played 64% of snaps on the first drive, but his snap share was 50% or lower on each of the next five series. Kittle played just 42% of snaps after the opening drive.
  • Luke Farrell ended up with the most TE snaps, because....
• TE Jake Tonges limped off with a knee injury during the second quarter. He didn't return, and Kyle Shanahan said afterward it doesn't look good.
  • A lengthy absence for Tonges could push a few more snaps in the direction of any of the following players: Kittle, Luke Farrell, Demarcus Robinson, Deebo Samuel.
• There was no designated slot man in 11 personnel. Six players took between 2-5 slot snaps in 11p, including TE George Kittle and RB Christian McCaffrey.
  • Deebo Samuel got a team-high five slot snaps in 11p, but he also had eight perimeter snaps and two in the backfield from the grouping.
• Over the first four drives, each of Evans/Stribling/Samuel/Robinson landed between 37% and 63% snap share in two-wide sets.
  • In three-wide sets, each was between 67% and 78%. In other words, it was a true four-man rotation, albeit with Evans and Stribling clearly ahead of Samuel and Robinson for early snaps. Samuel, of course, was much more involved than Stribling from a touch/target perspective, even early on. There was a lot to digest even before Stribling's injury impacted things.

Stock ⬆️: RB Kaelon Black, WR Deebo Samuel (maybe), WR Demarcus Robinson

Stock ⬇️: RB Christian McCaffrey

        

Injuries 🚑: WR De'Zhaun Stribling (ankle), TE Jake Tonges (knee)

Rams Personnel:   11p - 56.1%  |  12p - 5.3%  |  13p - 36.8%

57 Plays (3rd/4)  /  29 Dropbacks (51%)  /  -13.9% PROE (4th/4)

8.8 aDOT — 17-of-28 for 168 yards — 0 TDs, 1 INT, 0 sacks, 1 scramble

• The Rams used 13 personnel on 40% of plays in the first half, including 6 of 11 first-down snaps (3 in 12 personnel, just 1 in 11 personnel). They then used 13 personnel on 11 of 12 plays on their lone third-quarter drive, before shifting to exclusively 11 personnel in the fourth quarter in comeback move.
  • Prior to the fourth quarter, the Rams used 13 personnel on 57% of snaps, though 11 of the 21 plays in 13p came on that lengthy third-quarter drive (which ended on an unsuccessful Stafford sneak attempt at the goal line).
• Snap/route shares were impacted by the blowout. Sean McVay pulled most of his starters before a final drive that spanned 10 plays.

Backfield

• RB Blake Corum played just 28% of snaps in the first half and 19% after halftime, but he did get 10 carries on his 13 snaps and gained 54 yards in the process.
• RB Kyren Williams played 77% of snaps and took 14 of 24 RB opportunities (58%) before the final drive. The snap/route shares look good, but the split of carries was similar to what we saw late last season — not too far from 50/50. Williams is still dominating snaps in clear passing situations, but Corum is arguably a better pure runner and figures to continue getting a bunch of carries.
  • Not counting the last drive when Ronnie Rivers took over, Williams played 70% of snaps on 1D, 75% on 2D, 88% on 3D. That's essentially best-case scenario in terms of playing time, except with a tiny per-snap touch rate (especially compared to Corum). Overall, this can basically just be treated as a continuation of last December/January.
  • Williams was on the field for all six of LA's snaps inside the 10-yard line and took carries on three of those plays, including a five-yard TD. The combo of goal-line work and pass-down work may allow him to get by as a strong RB2 or bottom-end RB1 even with Corum poaching a lot of carries.
  • Rivers got no playing time before garbage time. 

Pass Catchers

• WR Puka Nacua played 83% of snaps before the final drive and drew targets on nine of 20 routes. He also drew a holding penalty that should've been a long DPI instead.
  • Nacua played 86% of snaps in 11 personnel and 81% of snaps in 13 personnel.
• WR Davante Adams played 64% of snaps before the final drive, with a 100% snap share in 11 personnel and a 19% share in 13 personnel.
  • Adams was also on the field for all three snaps in 12 personnel. Overall, I'd say the playing-time signs were positive. The question marks pertain to age (both his and Matthew Stafford's) but I'm not ready for any conclusions there after a Week 1 game played in the wrong hemisphere.
• WR Jordan Whittington took 59% of snaps in 11 personnel before the final drive, with Konata Mumpfield getting 32% and Xavier Smith taking 23%. It again looks like we won't get even deep-league relevance from the WR3 role.
• TE Terrance Ferguson played 76% of snaps on the Rams' first three drives but just 50% on the next three drives. He finished with just one incomplete target and ran five fewer routes than Colby Parkinson, killing some of the early optimism based on playing time.
  • Ferguson ultimately played 92% of snaps in multi-TE formations before the garbage-time drive, but he got just 27% of the snaps in 11 personnel. That won't cut it in terms of mainstream fantasy value; it might not even be enough for deep-league value.
  • Parkinson and Davis Allen split the garbage-time snaps, with Allen getting banged up in the process. Tyler Higbee played nine snaps in 13 personnel and just two snaps otherwise.
  • Overall verdict: Not much cause for fantasy optimism from this TE room. Parkinson is the one you'd start Week 2 in a desperate spot, but Ferguson makes more sense as a bench stash still.

Stock ⬆️: Rams haters + people with strong jet-lag opinions

Stock ⬇️: TE Tyler Higbee

        

Injuries 🚑: TE Davis Allen (head), S Kamren Curl (ankle)

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