As NFL offenses leaned harder into multiple-tight-end personnel last season, most defenses adjusted by staying in base looks rather than risk getting exposed in coverage. The San Francisco 49ers, though, stayed true to their coverage plan in 2025.
San Francisco played five or more defensive backs against multi-tight-end sets 54.1% of the time in 2025, according to Sharp Football Analysis, which was the fourth-highest rate in the league, behind only the Seattle Seahawks (79%), Baltimore Ravens (68.3%) and Chicago Bears (63.4%).
The approach leans on the personnel the 49ers have built specifically to hold up in coverage without sacrificing size. Deommodore Lenoir and Renardo Green give the 49ers two outside corners capable of matching bigger receiving tight ends: Lenoir is 5-foot-10 and 200 pounds while Green is 6-foot and 186 pounds, and safeties Ji’Ayir Brown, Malik Mustapha, Marques Sigle and Jason Pinnock are all physical enough to play in the box with their 200-pound frames.
That depth is what allows San Francisco to stay in five-defensive-back looks against heavier personnel instead of defaulting to base linebackers who’d get exposed matched up on a tight end running a seam route.
The strategy matters most inside the NFC West. The 49ers face the Los Angeles Rams twice a year, a team that ran an NFL-record 331 offensive plays out of three-tight-end personnel last season while averaging 8.4 yards per pass play out of those sets. Sean McVay’s group, with Colby Parkinson, Tyler Higbee and Terrance Ferguson all capable receiving threats, is precisely the kind of offense San Francisco’s defensive approach was built to counter.
While the 49ers’ results against that group directly weren’t phenomenal, as San Francisco allowed 99 receptions for 968 yards and 10 touchdowns to tight ends in 2025. However, they were solid against stopping runs out of multi-tight end sets while in sub packages, as the 49ers allowed around 4.6 yards per rush on those players — a number that ranked on par with the vaunted Houston Texans.
How the 49ers’ units hold up against that multi-tight-end set-up this season will be one of the clearest tests of whether the strategy actually works against the personnel groupings it was designed for. And, too, how new defensive coordinator Raheem Morris will try to solve the issue Slahe attempted to a year ago.
This article originally appeared on Niners Wire: How the 49ers’ defense tried to counter the NFL’s newest trend in 2025
Reporting by Oliver G., Niners Wire / Niners Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Oliver G., Niners Wire | USA TODAY Network
