49ers Reveal New Defensive Wrinkle Under Raheem Morris

The San Francisco 49ers were always going to throw in some new wrinkles with Raheem Morris leading the defense in place of Robert Saleh. One of the most notable might be the difference in how the team employs its dime personnel.

Last year, the 49ers would bring an extra safety onto the field for their dime formation. So, in typical looks, it would be Renardo Green and Deommodore Lenoir on the outside, with Upton Stout in the slot.

Saleh started Ji’Ayir Brown and Malik Mustapha, so Marques Sigle would play the dime role. However, it left the 49ers exposed in coverage more often than not. Whether it was Sigle or Brown in the dime role, neither was good enough in coverage to match the extra receiver.

More than that, the 49ers were weak against the slot in these scenarios. Saleh stressed that while Lenoir had experience in the slot, he did not plan to use Lenoir in the slot.

Morris has changed that plan.

In Week 1, he unveiled eight snaps of the 49ers' new dime defense. In this look, the 49ers bring in newly signed free agent Jack Jones to be the extra defensive back. Jones has experience on the outside and started 33 games over the last two years. So, the team can trust him on the outside.

Then, they move Lenoir inside to the slot. So, they have both Lenoir and Stout in the slot. This allows them to have two strong coverage players when teams motion talented receivers into the slot.

Meanwhile, they do not lose as much on the outside by dropping off from Lenoir to Jones. The 49ers only showed this look for eight snaps, and it will only come out for obvious pass downs.

Still, Matthew Stafford was 3-7 for 19 yards when the 49ers showed this look. They had one rush for four yards against the 49ers' dime defense.

The question might be the run defense. When the 49ers have an extra safety on the field, they can still have a strong box presence. When they pull a linebacker for Jones, they get a lot more thin up the middle.

Still, the 49ers are using this to match downs when teams are expected to pass or showing passing formations. It will hurt them at times, but not as much as big passes would hurt the 49ers when they brought an extra safety in last year.

This seems like a great adjustment.