49ers overreactions: Is Jennings the team’s best wide receiver?

49ers overreactions: Is Jennings the team’s best wide receiver? originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

The hysteria of a week ago has mostly dissipated.

The 49ers snapped a two-game losing streak with a 30-13 victory over the New England Patriots in Week 4, and now two NFC West opponents await.

But as the 49ers get set for potential season-shaping games against Arizona and Seattle in a span of five days, there still is plenty on the minds of 49ers fans.

Here’s our latest edition of 49ers overreactions with a big assist from our followers on Threads:

Jauan Jennings is the best pass receiver on the team. (rich.colbert)

Overreaction: No.

Whether this will stand the test of time over the entire season remains to be seen.

But there is no argument here that Jauan Jennings is the 49ers’ top playmaker in the passing game.

Jennings already has exceeded his numbers from last season. He has 21 catches (on 27 targets) for 364 yards and three touchdowns.

And he’s making catches at every level, including his spectacular grab of a 45-yard pass on Sunday against tight coverage.

Deebo Samuel and Brandon Aiyuk have been the starters. They are the team’s top two wideouts, but Jennings has earned his own high praise.

He has worked hard. He does all the dirty work. He also is good at beating man coverage and finding holes in zones.

And when he’s had opportunities to make plays, he has shined.

That means he should continue to get more and more opportunities to establish himself as at least an equal to Samuel and Aiyuk.

This team will only be as good as the offensive line and right now it’s a massive problem (toxicink2)

Overreaction: Yes.

If the team only is as good as the offensive line, then the offensive line has been very good — based on deep postseason runs each of the past four years.

The timing of this overreaction is not great, considering the offensive line was very good against the New England Patriots.

Brock Purdy had a lot of time to throw on Sunday but he had some problems finding open receivers. Thus, he held the ball for a long time and eventually had to escape the pocket.

There were just six pressures on Purdy’s 28 dropbacks. Left guard Aaron Banks had the most difficult game, according to PFF. He allowed four pressures, while right tackle Colton McKivitz and running back Jordan Mason allowed one apiece.

Center Jake Brendel, right guard Dominick Puni and left tackle Trent Williams had clean pass-block sheets, according to PFF.

The one time Purdy was sacked came when he held the ball for nearly nine seconds waiting for someone to get open in order for him to unleash a pass.

PFF currently ranks the 49ers’ No. 20 in the league in pass-blocking efficiency. The team’s run-blocking is No. 2 in the NFL.

Objectively, if you look at the 49ers’ offense, the line probably ranks at the top of the list of concerns behind quarterback, running back, tight end and wide receiver.

We get that.

But we also understand the offensive line always is going to get a lot of the blame when things go wrong and very little of the credit when the offense is clicking.

We’re just here to set the record straight.

Overreaction: No.

Brock Purdy has a way of making everyone around him better. That’s what the great ones do.

He has faced more challenges through four games than at any point in his young career, and defenses have focused on devising game plans they believe give them the best chance of limiting him.

Still, Purdy leads the NFL in passing yards and average yards per pass attempt. His numbers might be slightly down from a year ago, but he still ranks up there among the best.

A word of advice: Let everyone else debate where he ranks; just sit back and enjoy the show.

Fred Warner is more than just one of the best linebackers in the NFL, he’s one of the best defensive players period (ko.hoku)

Overreaction: No.

This certainly is not an overreaction, and we can look at last year’s NFL Defensive Player of the Year voting to prove it. Warner finished sixth in the balloting, and he’s in position to make another upward move this season.

Warner is a three-time All-Pro player who has gotten off to an incredible start with two interceptions, a league-best 70 return yards, a league-high three forced fumbles, 27 tackles and one sack.

As wild as it seems to make this statement: Warner appears to be playing his best football by a wide margin early this season.

The D-line will perform better without Hargrave. (jonshugarte)

Overreaction: Yes.

The 49ers are not a better team without Javon Hargrave, a two-time Pro Bowl selection who registered 25.5 sacks in his previous three seasons.

While he might not have been the destructive, game-changing force the 49ers were expecting when they signed him to a big-money deal last year, he still is a big-time player. The 49ers were expecting him to be more and more productive.

That said, the 49ers still have enough players they can rotate into the mix to compensate for Hargrave’s season-ending triceps injury.

The 49ers figure to keep their interior linemen fresh throughout the course of a game, and it showed on Sunday. Starter Jordan Elliott sustained a knee injury. But the 49ers still found a lot of success with a rotation that included Maliek Collins, Kevin Givens, Evan Anderson and Yetur Gross-Matos in nickel situations.

Injuries are going to derail the season. (marcuswoitas)

Overreaction: Yes.

No excuses.

Every team deals with injury issues. And, in fact, the 49ers are in the middle of the pack as far as players on injured lists at this point in the season.

Running back Christian McCaffrey is back from undergoing treatment in Germany for his bilateral Achilles tendinitis. The 49ers are holding out hope McCaffrey, linebacker Dre Greenlaw and first-round draft pick Ricky Pearsall can make significant contributions this season.

The 49ers will inevitably have players who will miss games due to injuries. They also will get players back from injuries.

But keep in mind that this is an incredibly demanding sport with big, fast, athletic men crashing into each other on every play.

Every team will lose players to injuries, and the teams that have their backups ready to step in and step up will be the contenders at the end of the season.

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