San Francisco 49ers: Full Report Card Heading into Week 8 Bye

With the San Francisco 49ers sitting at 4-3 during their bye week, now is a good time to go back and look at how well the team has done over the course of their first seven games.  It’s time to hand out the midseason grades.

The 49ers find themselves in an adequate, if not dominant, position going into their off week.  They’re not currently in playoff position, but they still control their own wild-card playoff fate.  All things being equal, I’d say they had about a 50/50 shot of making the playoffs at this point.

Of course, things are not equal—they will be getting defensive reinforcements back soon in NaVorro Bowman and Aldon Smith, which should have the cascade effect of improving the team in general from top to bottom.  They also see their schedule easing up a bit—apart from a pair of games against the Seattle Seahawks and one against the San Diego Chargers, the level of opposition goes down significantly in the second half of the year.  They knew, coming in, that all they had to do was weather the storm in the first half of the season in order to have a good shot at making a playoff run.

That’s more or less what they’ve done.  Having a winning record at the bye is key, and, while they haven’t looked like world-beaters so far, they have done enough to be considered contenders.

They’ve had their ups—the Week 1 win over Dallas looks huge now—and their downs—the Week 2 collapse against Chicago looks equally bad—but this has been a good, but not great, team through seven weeks.  Their grades reflect that performance.

One final note before we start passing out the grades proper—these grades are calibrated so a “C” is league average.  That’s what you’d expect normally, but you often find NFL grades highly weighed in one way or another.  Mel Kiper’s draft grades, for example, saw only two teams get worse than a C grade.  Not so here—if the 49ers were worst in the league in anything, they’d get an F.

So, with those strict standards in mind, let’s get into the nitty-gritty of how the team has done:

Quarterbacks

Joe Mahoney/Associated Press

Colin Kaepernick: 143-for-224; 1,719 yards; 11 touchdowns; 5 interceptions

What to make of San Francisco’s $18 million man at quarterback?  Watching Colin Kaepernick play is like riding a roller coaster.  There are incredible ups when he makes insane athletic plays, like the touchdown pass to Anquan Boldin in the St. Louis Rams game.  Then, there are the terrible downs, like the three interceptions to let the Chicago Bears come back to beat the 49ers in Week 2.

Like a roller coaster, however, the Colin Kaepernick experience generally ends with you in a good mood, if a little sick to your stomach at times.   He’s certainly a better player to have on your side than a consistently poor quarterback, like Ryan Fitzpatrick.

I can’t give him too high a grade, though.  His new contract brings with it new expectations, and Kaepernick has had a few growing pains.  His interception rate this season is up, and he still has some times where it looks like he blows up a play when his first read is covered.

Then he goes out and finds insane touchdown passes, like the one to Boldin or this cross-field shot to Frank Gore.

I guess, at the end of the day, I don’t yet trust Kaepernick to take the game on his back and win it single-handedly, like I would a Peyton Manning or Aaron Rodgers.  At the same time, he makes enough positive plays to be a positive player overall.

Football Outsiders, leading up to the Denver game, had Kaepernick as the 12th-best quarterback in the league.  I’ll be a bit more conservative than that until I see him have a truly great game this season—but he’s still in the positive-value side of my equation.

Grade: C+

Running Backs

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876 rushing yards

There’s one man keeping this grade above average, and that’s Frank Gore.

Who would have thought that Gore, at age 31, would continue being an effective running back?  He’s averaging 4.3 yards per carry and been a key contributor to multiple San Francisco wins.  If this was just a grade for Frank Gore, this would be a solid B—he’s obviously not up in the rarefied air that your Le’Veon Bells or Marshawn Lynches are this season, but he’s a good contributor who can be counted on consistently.

Bringing the grade down a bit, however, are the other two members of the backfield with significant touches.  Carlos Hyde is doing fine for a rookie, and he's flashing some power and potential future stud-running back potential.  He came into the league with a splash in Week 1, rushing for 50 yards and a touchdown on seven carries.  Since then, there’ve been some growing pains—he was stuffed consistently against St. Louis two weeks ago, for example—but being a league-average player in your first year out of the draft is stellar.

Bruce Miller, however, is not doing quite as well.  To be more precise, he seems to me to be doing exactly as well as Hyde is, but one’s a rookie, and one’s a borderline Pro Bowl player.  We haven’t really seen the sort of run blocking he’s been known for to this point in the year, and that’s a little disappointing.  He’ll likely pick it up in the second half, but he’s been just alright to this point.

Grade: C+

Wide Receivers

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Anquan Boldin: 39 receptions, 447 yards, 1 touchdown
Michael Crabtree: 32 receptions, 332 yards, 3 touchdowns

Where does the Anquan Boldin trade rank in top trades in San Francisco history?  Top 10?  Top five?

For just a sixth-round pick, the 49ers got a great, day-in and day-out contributor.  He saved the 49ers last season when Michael Crabtree missed time with injuries, and has been Kaepernick’s leading target again in 2014.  For just a sixth-round pick!

Compare that to the Percy Harvin trade, where Seattle gave up a first-, third- and seventh-round pick for a player who only appeared in 10 games for the team before being traded away this week.  What a steal.

Michael Crabtree has not been as good in this, his contract year.  The soon-to-be free agent has been dealing with a foot injury, though he hasn’t missed a game yet, and he’s definitely been slower than hoped for to this point.  Hopefully, as that injury heals up, his level of play will be back to what we’re expecting.  He hasn’t been bad, but he’s clearly been the second-best receiver on the team.

In the third and fourth receiver slots, Stevie Johnson and Brandon Lloyd have been doing quite well for themselves as well.  Lloyd’s been racking up the highlight catches, but Johnson’s been the more consistent contributor—Lloyd only had seven catches going into the Broncos game.  Hopefully, we’ll see more of both in the second half of the year.

Grade: B

Tight Ends

Tim Sharp/Associated Press

Vernon Davis: 14 receptions, 142 yards, 2 touchdowns

Oh, Vernon Davis.  After holding out this offseason, you really had to back up that off-field impact with a high level of performance on the field to justify your demands for a bigger contract.

Instead, Davis has significantly struggled.  He’s outright missed two games with back spasms and an ankle injury.  He also had what might be his worst game in history against the St. Louis Rams, dropping two passes outright and interfering with a touchdown pass.  For some players, you could justify that as being rusty from injury, but Davis’ historic level of play has been above that.  If this grade were just for him, we’d have to give him a D and a strict warning to do better in the future.

Davis’ injuries, however, have let his backups shine some.  Vance McDonald (grade: B) has looked a lot better than he did in his rookie season, but I’ve been most impressed by Derek Carrier (grade: B+).  The former undrafted star from tiny Beloit College has seven receptions on ten targets so far, and has been much more solid blocking than I expected.  He’s still a firm third on the depth chart, but in the four games in which he saw serious action, he more than looked like he belonged on the field.  Combined, their performance helps make up for Davis’ struggles somewhat.

Grade: C

Offensive Line

Paul Sakuma/Associated Press

19 sacks allowed

Grading the line as a unit is tough, because they’ve had to deal with injuries and rust from holdouts.  There has been good news and bad news.

The good news has been the left side of the line.  Joe Staley has been his usual, consistent self.  He’s been the best pass-blocker on the line by far, shutting down Robert Quinn against the St. Louis Rams and generally serving as a solid rock on the outside of the line.  Daniel Kilgore has been solid replacing Jonathan Goodwin at center, too—he’s shown great run-blocking chops that should allow him to keep the job long-term, even when rookie Marcus Martin is ready to go.  His injury Sunday night is very unfortunate.

Mike Iupati got off to a very up-and-down start to the season, and he still has been having a few difficulties in pass protection.  However, over the last month and a half, his run-blocking ability has been kicking it into another gear.  According to Pro Football Focus (subscription required), the 49ers are averaging 5.6 yards per carry when they run off left guard.  He might be San Francisco’s highest-priority free agent this offseason.

The flip side is the right side of the line.  Jonathan Martin has been doing alright when you consider he’s a backup who has been thrust into a starting role thanks to injuries to Anthony Davis.  The line will be better with Martin out of the lineup, but he’s been a league-average player there, more or less.

Alex Boone is probably still knocking off rust from his holdout this training camp.  He’s been the worst of San Francisco’s linemen so far this season, though he’s shown signs of righting the ship over the past two weeks.  Hopefully, his play will continue to improve as the season goes on.

Joe Looney, who’s filled in for both Boone and Iupati when they’ve been out of the lineup, hasn’t exactly set the world on fire.  He’s a solid rotational player, and nothing more.

Grade: C+

Defensive Line

Marcio Jose Sanchez/Associated Press

594 rushing yards allowed

It’s been a very solid start for San Francisco’s defensive line this season.  With the injuries and suspensions in the linebacking corps, they were asked to carry a heavier-than-usual load in the front seven, and they’ve delivered.

Justin Smith has been his usual fine self, continuing to contribute at a high level at age 35.  On the other side of the line, Ray McDonald has also been his usual solid self.  His off-field domestic violence investigation continues to be in the news, but as of yet, no charges have been filed, and it has not been a distraction in terms of his on-field production.

The most notable performance on the line, however, goes to Ian Williams.  Williams was the starter at the beginning of last season, but he went down with a broken ankle in Week 2 against the Seahawks and was replaced by Glenn Dorsey. 

This year, Dorsey was the one lost for most of the year with an injury, and Williams has reclaimed his old job with gusto.  According to Pro Football Focus (subscription required), every single one of his tackles has been for good for a defensive stop, and he ranks in the top 10 among nose tackles in terms of defensive stops.  Considering he was expected to be a backup this season, it’s been a wonderful performance.

Tony Jerod-Eddie has been the first man off the bench, and he's mostly been forgettable.  There’s still no sign of last year’s second-round pick, Tank Carradine.

Grade: B+

Linebackers

Beck Diefenbach/Associated Press

Considering that NaVorro Bowman, Aldon Smith and Patrick Willis have all missed time this year, it’s remarkable that the linebacking corps has held out so well.  Against the Denver Broncos, the 49ers actually started three backups and still had a fairly solid overall performance.

The best replacement, so far, has been Dan Skuta.   His best game of the year came against St. Louis, when he sacked Austin Davis twice on one drive, but he’s been a solid tackling force all year long. In the middle of the defense, Michael Wilhoite has also been a decent defensive performer, showing that San Francisco’s linebacking talents do not end when the starters go out.  A C grade as a starter is a great grade for a backup.

On the flip side, the two healthy stars haven’t quite lived up to their billing.  Patrick Willis gets a bit of a harsher grade from me because he’s capable of so much that he’s held to a higher standard than most.  He’s not been great in run defense, and it seems to my eyes that he’s less comfortable playing Bowman’s position than he is at his own. 

Maybe I had overly-high expectations from Willis this year, but he’s just been solid.  I was expecting more explosive, game-changing plays from him, stepping up to a higher level with Bowman out.  He’s still been an above-average player, and C+ might be a bit harsh, but he hasn’t wowed me, as he’s capable of doing.

Ahmad Brooks gets a black mark in my book as the lead culprit in San Francisco’s penalty problems.  No player on the team has committed more penalties than Brooks, and that was true last year, as well.  Dallas, Philadelphia and Kansas City all seemed happy to run right at him, and he was completely shut down by Jordan Mills and Todd Herremans.  It just has felt, so far, that his contributions on the field have not made up for the flags he gets.

Maybe my standards are too high for Willis and Brooks, but these are Pro Bowl-caliber players who I feel could and should be playing better.  When Smith and Bowman get back, it should take some of the pressure off of them, which should help their performance.

In limited action, rookie Aaron Lynch has looked very good—better than Brooks, I would say.  I will be interested to see how much game time he gets when everyone is healthy and un-suspended.

Grade: C

Defensive Backs

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1,548 passing yards allowed

I’m about to say something I thought was impossible when the season started—the strength of San Francisco’s defense has been their secondary.

I know, it’s crazy—considering the 49ers had to replace three starters from last year’s opening day (Tarell Brown, Carlos Rodgers and Donte Whitner), and that their top corner, Tramaine Brock, has missed all but one game due to injury, this should be a disaster.  Instead, players have been rising to the occasion.

Antonie Bethea has been one of the top free-agent pickups of the year—as of this writing (before the Denver game), he is the top-rated safety in the NFL, according to Pro Football Focus (subscription required).  Similarly, Perrish Cox has come out of nowhere to be a top-five cornerback, allowing completions on only about half of his targets.  This is completely out of character with his past career, but he’s been on fire in 2014.

Eric Reid hasn’t been as good as he was last season, but he's still a very solid back at safety.  Similarly, Chris Culliver is probably the weak link among the starters, but is still a very capable second corner.  If he’s demoted when Tramaine Brock comes back, it’ll be a very strong nickel package.

It’s not all perfect, of course.  First-round rookie Jimmie Ward has struggled a bit.  Brandon Marshall made him look silly, scoring three touchdowns against him back in Week 2.  He’s learning on the job, and he could be doing better.

Still, this has been a top secondary in the NFL through seven weeks.  How on Earth did that happen?

Grade: A

Special Teams

Tony Avelar/Associated Press

Remember when we were concerned about Phil Dawson missing kicks in the preseason?  That’s gone out the window, as he’s made 13 out of 16 kicks and has an average kickoff distance of 65.9 yards.  He’s doing just fine.

Andy Lee is turning in yet another solid season punting the ball, if not quite up to his lofty standards.  He’s averaging 47.7 yards gross and 39.0 yards net per punt, which puts him among the league leaders.

The return game is less exciting.  Rookie Bruce Ellington has been nothing special, with a long return of just 33 yards this season—32 players have at least one longer return than that.   He also tends to field punts far deeper than he should—some of the 49ers’ worst field-position situations have come when Ellington has refused to let the ball bounce past him into the end zone.

All in all, though, this remains a very solid unit.

Grade: B+

Coaching

Joe Mahoney/Associated Press

I was really tempted to mark this as incomplete, as the 49ers’ success is only really measured by their performance in the playoffs, but that’s a bit of a cop-out.

So what do you do with all the noise?  The rumors of locker-room dissent, the public defenses by players and owners.  The on-field histrionics, the conservative play-calling?

What about having the only victory over the Dallas Cowboys—and not just a victory, but a total demolition from start to finish?  What about the epic collapse against the Chicago Bears, with Jim Harbaugh seemingly unable to do anything to stop it?

What about the Ray McDonald situation, and Harbaugh’s response to it—should he have benched McDonald?  Did he do the right thing by letting the judicial process play out before any team discipline?

Do you give him credit for holding the team together through injuries, or blame him for not keeping a tighter leash on Aldon Smith?

When it’s all said and done, these are very difficult questions to answer.  So, I’m going to punt a little bit.   As a 4-3 record is above .500, Harbaugh is above average this season.  However, the 49ers do not find themselves in playoff position at the moment.  We’ll call it a good job—with the final grades yet to be decided.

Grade: B-

Bryan Knowles is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report, covering the San Francisco 49ers.  Follow him @BryKno on twitter.