Seven Takeaways From A 41-17 Win At The Chargers, Starting With The Back This Board Had Written Off

San Francisco beat the Chargers 41-17 at SoFi Stadium on Thursday night. It was 20-3 at halftime, and that is not the point. The roster is due Sunday, August 30 at 3:00pm PT, with one preseason game left at Las Vegas. What the night produced was evidence about the bottom half of a 90-man roster.

1. Sincere McCormick ran for more than anybody on the field, and this board has him at one out of ten.

McCormick carried six times for 53 yards, an average of 8.8, with a 37-yard run and a seven-yard touchdown. No other back on either roster gained more. The 53-man tracker this beat maintains grades him 1 and does not have him inside the projected 53. Six carries is a small denominator, but the job behind Christian McCaffrey is open, and on the only night this month when the candidates shared a field, the one this board had written off gained the most.

Zamir White carried 12 times, more than anybody in a San Francisco uniform, for 29 yards and an average of 2.4, the lowest of any 49er who took a handoff. Kaelon Black, the rookie, made his preseason debut and gained 33 on eight carries. Khalil Herbert, re-signed at 1:40 that afternoon, dressed that night, carried four times for 17 yards, scored from a yard out and returned a kickoff 29 yards.

2. Romello Height, a rookie, was one of the eleven defensive starters.

The game book lists San Francisco's eleven defensive starters with DL 94 R.Height among them, beside DL 95 A.Collins, DL 92 O.Odighizuwa and DL 91 S.Okuayinonu. Height is a rookie the board grades 8 and has inside the 53 as a designated rusher. Preseason lineups are shaped by who is resting, but it is the first time the club has shown him with the group it means to start.

3. Alfred Collins started next to Osa Odighizuwa, which is exactly the plan the club described.

The participation table has Collins at 20 defensive snaps, 34 percent of the defensive total, the most of any San Francisco defensive lineman who started, above the 17 apiece taken by fellow starters Deommodore Lenoir, Marques Sigle and Ji'Ayir Brown. Five reserves played more than Collins on the defensive line, led by Ogbonnia Okoronkwo at 27, which is what a preseason night looks like once the starters come out. The pairing with Odighizuwa is the one David Bonilla reported at 49ers Webzone on August 6 as the club's plan. Collins is graded 9 here and inside the 53, so Thursday confirmed his standing rather than changing it, which after shoulder surgery and an active/PUP stint is worth more than the snap count is.

4. Left guard is less settled this morning than it was on Wednesday.

The game book's starting offensive line reads LT 62 A.Pleasants, LG 74 C.Willis, C 64 J.Brendel, RG 75 C.Colby, RT 68 C.McKivitz. Austen Pleasants started at left tackle, moved inside and left in the third quarter with a knee injury. Shanahan afterwards: "It's not an ACL, but we've got to find out for sure exactly what it was tomorrow." Robert Jones did not play at all with a calf and Shanahan said he could miss another week. Dominick Puni is still in the concussion protocol. That is three of the men in this competition unavailable or hurt with one game left, and Shanahan has already put the decision roughly two weeks out, which lands after the roster is due.

5. Jacob Cowing produced the best play of the night and the worst receiving line on the team.

Cowing returned a punt 83 yards for a touchdown late in the second quarter, turning a 10-3 game into 17-3. He also caught two of seven targets for 14 yards, the most targets any 49er saw. Kyle Shanahan, asked whether it settled the returner job, said the return made the decision "easier" but was "not yet" done. This board grades Cowing 6 and inside the 53, with the return job as the reason. Thursday supported the reason and complicated the rest.

6. The injuries are roster math nine days out, and two of the three are men this board has on the 53.

Renardo Green left in the first half with a hamstring and did not return, Jack Jones taking his place. Shanahan: "We'll have to get more imaging on that tomorrow to see if he pulled it." Nick Martin hurt a hamstring before the end, with no further detail. Green is graded 8 and Martin 7, both inside the projected 53. Pleasants is graded 2 and outside it, so his knee is a practice-squad question rather than a roster one. That distinction matters more than the count.

7. Four Called Shots resolved off this game book. Three were right and one was wrong, and the wrong one is the more interesting.

Right: Collins among the defensive starters. Right: Carver Willis starting at left guard. Right: none of the three defensive backs who tried out on August 14 signing by August 20. Wrong: Robert Jones at right guard on the first series. Jones is in the Did Not Play column with the calf. The take named that failure mode when it was filed and got the two things it was reasoning about right: Puni did not clear the protocol, and the club did not rest its regulars a second straight week. It lost to a third injury that did not exist when it was written. A miss is a miss, and the ledger carries it as one.

And the names Thursday did not answer. Brock Purdy played the opening drive and 12 snaps, per Cam Inman of the Bay Area News Group on August 20, completing four of six for 29 yards. Mac Jones took the rest of the half at 6 of 13 for 89. Adrian Martinez went 8 of 17 for 57 with two interceptions, one returned 16 yards for a touchdown, and still led three scoring drives. Trent Williams, Mike Evans, McCaffrey, George Kittle and Puni sat, per Inman: men who are safe, not men who are hurt. KhaDarel Hodge tied for the team lead with four catches for 46 yards while sitting outside this board's 53 at a grade of 4, with a live Called Shot on him making it. De'Zhaun Stribling caught all three of Purdy's targets and finished with four for 46. Jordan Watkins scored the only receiving touchdown, from 17 yards, and added two kickoff returns for 44.

The backup center job, opened when Brett Toth's concussion was disclosed on August 8, is still open. Jake Brendel started and no participation figure published by run time says who followed him.