After a disappointing season that culminated with the new head coach, Jim Harbaugh, this year ended with an 11-6 record and a playoff berth. Harbaugh retooled the offense to be more balanced, and the results spoke for themselves. But the offense was extremely conservative for all its success, hurting scoring chances. The team only averaged 23.6 points per game.
QB
Justin Herbert was consistently in the top 10 for QBs; some had him in the top five. He had a serviceable year, which saw him throw 23 TDs with only three interceptions. This is the third consecutive season he hasn’t reached 30 TDs…he hasn’t thrown more than 25 TDs. This is another season in which he fell short of 4000 passing yards. The cherry on top is that he wasn’t particularly accurate, completing less than 66% of his passes. The team only ranked 14th in passing this season. With the emergence of QBs like CJ Stroud and Jayden Daniels, Herbert may not be a top-10 QB moving forward. But he has all the skill in the world to get back into that rarified air.
RB
When Harbaugh took over, he cleaned house. The team lost so much offensive talent. Austin Ekeler, Mike Williams, and Keenan Allen all moved on. Harbaugh wanted a balanced attack and signed two Ravens RBs. Both JK Dobbins and Gus Edwards signed on. And for all of the talk early on regarding their dominance on the ground, their running game was average at best. They were statistically dead center, in the middle, ranked 16th. Neither RB rushed for over 1000. In 13 games, Dobbins rushed for 905 yards and nine TDs. Edwards only played 11 games but only rushed for 365 yards in those games. Only averaging 33 yds per game isn’t good enough. This Harbaugh would have been better served doing what his brother did…snagging Derrick Henry instead of Dobbins and Edwards.
WR
Losing Allen and Williams as receivers for Herbert wasn’t easy. But to their credit, they drafted WR Ladd McConkey, who may turn out to be the WR of this draft. He led the team with 82 catches and 1149 receiving yards. And he added seven TDs. McConkey could claim Rookie of the Year honors if there wasn’t someone named Jayden Daniels or Brock Bowers. In his second season, Quentin Johnston made huge strides. He went from 38 to 55 catches and 431 to 711 yds. His completion % improved from 56.7 to 60.4, and his receiving average increased from 11.3 to 12.9. The team could use an upgrade over Josh Palmer and a better TE than Will Dissly.
DEFENSE
This defense was the better side of the ball. It ranked in the top 10 in passing defense. Although its rushing defense was in the middle of the pack, it had a tremendous nucleus of Khalil Mack, Joey Bosa, and Daiyan Henley. Mack led the team with 147 combined tackles, which ranked eighth in the league.
HEAD COACH
Jim Harbaugh is a great coach. He’s been a winner everywhere he’s ever gone and has built a tremendous culture. He’s managed to win college football’s ultimate prize but still searching for his first Superbowl. He has the ability to win it in Los Angeles with Herbert as his QB. But to do that, he’s going to have to take the training wheels off. You don’t hand the keys to the Ferrari to your grandmother, who won’t get it out of second gear. You need to throw caution to the wind and open it up a little. You can safely do that with a QB like Herbert, without being reckless. But it will take a season with 30-plus TDs and over 4000 passing yards; It will take a season that averages between 25-30 pts per game.
