The key behind 49ers' 7-1 start? Big contributions from the team's youth
SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- As the San Francisco 49ers clung to an 11-point halftime lead against the visitingLas Vegas Raiders on Sunday, star linebacker Fred Warner delivered a simple message to the rest of the defense: Just get one.
As in one takeaway. The belief, according to Warner, was that it would lead to more. And with Warner's voice still echoing in his head, rookie linebacker Jaden Duggerdelivered the knockout blow on the first play of the third quarter, intercepting Raiders quarterback Kirk Cousins and returning it 37 yards for a touchdown.
It was the first of five second-half takeaways for the Niners on their way to a 38-17 win and a 7-1 record -- their best start since 2019, when they reached Super Bowl LIV. While the play was a pivotal moment in the victory, what it represents means more for the trajectory of their season.
Yes, the Niners will continue to lean heavily on the star-powered core that has carried them for the past seven years. But if they are going to rise to another level, the continued ascent of their youth movement will go a long way in making it happen.
"We have a great core group of guys, guys who played the game at a very high level for a long time," tight end George Kittle said. "We have all these young guys who are playing at a really high level because they see other veteran players playing at high level and they're like, 'Hey, I want to be that good.' It's really good for the Niners and our best players will take us pretty far, but we need young guys to step up."
That development has helped define the 49ers' 2026 season but gained even more steam Sunday.
In addition to Dugger's pick-six, second-year wide receiverJordan Watkins led the team with 86 yards on four catches, including his first NFL touchdown. Rookie running back Kaelon Black had a team-high 70 yards on 11 carries. Nickelback Upton Stout, a 2025 third-round pick, chipped in a forced fumble at the goal line in the third quarter.
As injuries have again ravaged the team's roster, not only are San Francisco's young players logging more snaps than expected, but some have also stepped into starting roles. Through eight games, they have 16 players from the past two rookie classes who have appeared in a game. From that group, 10 have played more than 100 snaps; seven have logged more than 200.
Rookies like Dugger, defensive tackle Gracen Halton and defensive endRomello Height have combined to start 14 games. Second-year players, such as Watkins, Stout, guard Connor Colby, safety Marques Sigle and defensive tackle C.J. West, have started a combined 21 games.
More importantly, there have been obvious signs of progress along the way. Watkins might offer the best example of that growth after injuries forced the Niners to dig deep into the receiver depth chart.
After a training camp that left him on the roster bubble, injuries to Ricky Pearsall (knee) and Christian Kirk (calf) allowed Watkins to make the final roster. More injuries -- to Mike Evans, rookie De'Zhaun Stribling and others-- created opportunities for Watkins to contribute, includingagainst the Falcons in Week 7.
Top Stories
Watkins finished withthree catches for 56 yards in Atlanta, but he also couldn't quite come down with a couple of contested passes thrown his way. For him, it stirred up thoughts of the training camp critiques he'd seen on social media of his inability to outmuscle defenders when the ball is up for grabs. Instead of wallowing in the criticism, Watkins made it a point of emphasis to fix during the Week 8 bye.
"That was just kind of a confidence thing," Watkins said about the lack ofcontested catches. "It was about going back in the bye week and just resetting a little bit and kind of building off the Atlanta game. It's just really a confidence thing knowing that I can do it."
Similar confidence has seemed to overflow from the 49ers' rookie class, one that perhaps not so coincidentally seems wise beyond its years.At the time of the draft, the Niners had the third-oldest class of draftees in the league. Their eight-man draft class entered Sunday with an average age of 23.38. Dugger and Halton are the youngest at 22, while Black and Height are the oldest at 25.
Kittle said he loved the Niners drafting the older prospects because they "understand the sense of urgency that comes with football." Indeed, the idea that the rookie class entered a locker room full of players who have been just short of the franchise's sixth Lombardi Trophy was immediately evident.
"Ever since we got here, everybody was trying to talk about how we're like an old team or whatever, but we knew we have to contribute," Dugger said. "When I got drafted, they told me you're not just coming here to sit. Just coming in with that mentality, I feel like we knew we had to contribute early. I feel like we are just trying to do our job with the opportunities we have."
Dugger's opportunity arrived during camp, when he won theteam's "fever backer" job. Halton earned a prominent spot in the DT rotation with splash plays like his touchdown against Seattle, but he suffered a season-ending broken left ankle Sunday. Height stepped into a starting job after a series of injuries and has shown improvement as a situational pass rusher. Black will continue to get reps as the primary backup and complement to running back Christian McCaffrey. Fourth-round cornerback Ephesians Prysock has garnered snaps in each of the past two games and is now the team's primary backup at that spot.
That doesn't even account for Stribling, the team's top pick in April, who won a starting job before injuring his ankle in the opener against the Rams. The Niners hope to get him back at some point in December.
Defensive end Nick Bosa has been impressed enough with the rookies that he says coach Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch did "an amazing job" in the draft. But through the first half the season, Shanahan, Lynch and their respective staffs have done more than just select the talent. They, along with the team's veterans, have instilled the urgency that Kittle referenced.
"In other locker rooms, the rookies can be the burdens," Halton said. "For us, man, we got great vets in here, great guys that's been through any type of adversity. We really just try to glue to them, and that happens within the rookies. ... Getting the ring, that's the goal every year. But we really want it bad just to do it for those guys, the vets."br/]
