If you spent the last 48 hours sweating the 49ers’ sleepy, underwhelming joint practice against the Chargers on Tuesday, congratulations: You fell for the NFL’s oldest August grift.
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The regular season isn’t won in shorts in El Segundo. It’s built on depth, high-end baseline talent, and a fundamental refusal to look like a mess when actual game lights turn on.
San Francisco rolled into SoFi Stadium on Thursday night and stomped the Chargers 41-17. They were saving the good stuff for the TV cameras.
The starters played one series, looked sharp enough to remind everyone why they get paid big money, and then grabbed some baseball caps.
The backups spent the rest of the night treating Jim Harbaugh’s reserve units like turnstiles.
Does a 24-point August rout mean anything? Well, it means whatever you want it to mean between now and Thursday’s preseason finale against the Raiders in Las Vegas, when we’ll do this all over again.
But if you’re looking for signs of life on a roster currently carrying half an orthopedic ward, Thursday delivered.
Here are the studs and duds from the blowout in Inglewood.
STUDS
De’Zhaun Stribling • WR
Yes, there was the touchdown he dropped on a perfectly executed sluggo route.
But that wasn’t the story. No, it was a second-straight game of the rookie making it all look so easy. Strong hands, strong routes. Against the Chargers’ first-string defense and with both Brock Purdy and Mac Jones, Stribling looked like someone who can be an immediate impact player for the Niners in Year 1.
The only question now: Can the hype get any louder?
Kaelon Black • RB
The third-round pick out of Indiana has the juice, and he delivers a serious punch. Pair him with Christian McCaffrey and the Niners might have themselves not just an elite player (23) but an elite backfield combination.
Osa Odighizuwa • DT
An absolute menace from the jump. This is the three-tech the 49ers have been looking for the better part of a decade.
James Thompson • DT
Has been the best defensive tackle on this team in camp not named Odighizuwa. At some point, the fact that he’s an undrafted free-agent rookie doesn’t matter — only performance. I’m not sure we’re there yet, but in a week?
Mac Jones • QB
Jones’ practices this preseason have been less than impressive. Not disqualifying, but lackluster.
Joke is on me for not remembering that Jones is a gamer.
Not only was he on top of everything Thursday, but he was absolutely ripping passes.
Is there a quarterback who loves the Bang 8 route more than Jones? I haven’t seen one.
Sincere McCormick • RB
This is what the preseason is all about: making John Lynch’s life hard.
McCormick was signed off the street because of the attrition the Niners faced early in camp at the running back position. All he’s done since then has shown viable play from both the backfield and particularly on special teams. With coach-favorite Patrick Taylor going on season-long injured reserve, McCormick has won the fourth running back job (if one exists).
Austen Pleasants • OL
Is he a standout left tackle? Hardly. He often skirts the line between playable and not.
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But Pleasants, who has been getting some one-on-one reps at left guard amid a so-far fruitless battle for that starting position, looked like the best option there against the Chargers.
Yes, it was against the Chargers’ backups, and no, he doesn’t have much opportunity to rep the position in practice — which showed up in the third quarter when he missed his assignment, leading to a pick-six touchdown — but if San Francisco isn’t going to bring anyone else in, having a swing tackle that can play guard sounds pretty valuable.
Of course, all of that is contingent on Pleasants being healthy enough to play. He left Thursday’s game with what appeared to be a knee injury.
Jacob Cowing • PR
All you need is one.
Cowing entered Thursday’s game on the outside looking in for the Niners’ 53-man roster. But an 83-yard punt return touchdown was a deeply impressive play that could have shifted his entire roster trajectory.
Garrett Wallow • LB
He’s making the team. The only question is who he knocks off the 53-man roster.
DUDS
Luke Farrell • TE
A drop and a false start on the opening drive? That’s not a great look for a rookie, much less a veteran.
Jordan Watkins • WR
The good: he had a couple of really nice blocks, which were his first two of the preseason (the Tennessee tape was brutal). But his drop of what should have been Mac Jones’ second touchdown of the game (the first was the Stribling block) is the kind of error that he cannot be making.
And yes, he had a touchdown catch in the fourth quarter — that was a basic post-seam combo to beat a bland Cover-4 look. The more telling aspect is that situation it was the fourth quarter of a preseason game.
Perhaps Christian Kirk’s injury keeps Watkins on the team, but he’s unquestionably on thin ice after this game.
Jacob Cowing • WR
He had the play of the day as a punt returner, but he was brutal as a wide receiver during the useful portions of Thursday’s game, registering one bad drop and two shoulda-had-’ems (it’s an unofficial stat I keep).
Everything said about Watkins’ precarious spot can be said about Cowing. The latter has the special teams advantage, though.
Deebo Samuel • PR
The Niners ran him back there for two punt returns to start Thursday’s game, and it went about as well as you would expect for someone who has barely practiced the role (he had a brutal drop in Sunday’s session) and has had only four returns since the end of high school (all at South Carolina).
Samuel can surely handle a fair-catch-only role, but Thursday did not look like the start of something interesting.
Jaden Dugger • LB
Spent the first half floating between both the strong-side and weak-side linebacker positions.
The Niners are hoping he can be a tight-end equalizer in coverage — and he might be — but on plays where he’s not in coverage, he is overtly confused. When he wasn’t just standing around trying to catch up to the speed of the play, he was running into his own teammates.
Again, his athleticism makes him a worthy project, and there’s short-term special teams upside, but he’s a big project.
Enrique Cruz • OT
Has been on ice skates in pass protection since Day 1 of camp. Extremely difficult to imagine how the Niners, given all their questions on the line, can keep him on the 53-man roster.
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