Rams vs. 49ers: How Week 17 Foreshadows SF in 2016

The San Francisco 49ers won their last game of the season against the St. Louis Rams 19-16 in overtime at Levi’s Stadium. What did we see in this game that will go into how the 49ers look next season? Here are four 49ers that have an interesting future.

Despite winning the game, Week 17 was another average performance by this San Francisco 49ers squad. There were some great plays (defensive back Dontae Johnson’s field goal block, Arik Armstead being a force in the run game) and more very poor plays (Ahmad Brooks undisciplined personal foul penalty and Quinton Patton zig-zagging down the field refusing to make a tackle after an interception).

Here is the damning evidence per the Bay Area Sports Guy:

Quinton Patton

Patton did have a crucial 33-yard catch in overtime that put the 49ers in the position to kick the game-winning field goal, so it wasn’t all bad news for him. He also had a nice pass breakup on a Rams fake punt attempt earlier in the game.

Patton will be part of the 49ers plans in 2016, but he has to get more consistent with his route-running and he has to find ways to get open. He has the quickness that is vital for a wide receiver, and his primary goal for 2016 is to find ways to get open and to make game-impacting plays. This season he finished with 30 catches for 394 yards (13.13 yards per catch).

These are numbers for a below-average receiver. He has better talent than this. With a new head coach and new offensive coordinator for 2016, hopefully a new scheme that includes a more efficient downfield passing game will be of benefit to Patton to take the next step.

Arik Armstead

Here is a video of one of the great plays that Armstead had (per Oscar of BetterRivals):

Armstead just got better-and-better as the season wore on, and he became an important cog on the defensive line by season’s end. His performance made up for the loss of stalwart Glenn Dorsey.

Per Kiernan Hogan of Pro Football Focus, Armstead finished with the second-highest overall grade for rookie interior defensive linemen:

"While he was not able to crack the starting lineup this season, 2015 first-round pick DE Arik Armstead (+2.4) enjoyed a successful rookie year. Armstead earned green grades (+1.0 or better) for both pass rushing and run defense this year, and his +14.0 overall grade was second only to the Jets’ Leonard Williams among rookie interior defensive linemen."

He also graded very high for pass rush efficiency, per Jeff Deeney of Pro Football Focus:

Even with the expected return of Dorsey next season, Armstead has shown enough as a rookie to earn a starting spot on the defensive line for 2016. He has the chance to be a real impact player. If he has the opportunity to team up with fellow lineman Ian Williams on a consistent starting basis, then look out.

DuJuan Harris

Running back DuJuan Harris, a late-season signing from the Baltimore Ravens practice squad, was a revelation in the last three games of the season, and he added a great spark to the 49ers running game.

In the last three games Harris ran for 182 yards on 45 carries (4.04 yard average). He ran hard and more than made up for the injured Shaun Draughn. Not only was he the leading rusher of the game, he was also the leading receiver of the game with eight catches for 86 yards.

Per Pro Football Focus, Harris had the highest overall game grade with a plus-3.2. This is even more impressive considering the whole 49ers offensive line and the two starting tight ends finished collectively with a minus-1.0 grade for run blocking.

Harris has shown enough in Week 17 (and his previous two games) to earn a spot on the 49ers roster for 2016. He will make an excellent backup for Carlos Hyde, where he offers a change of pace and the ability to catch the ball out of the backfield.

Harris is now an unrestricted free agent. However, with only a $760,000 cap hit for 2016, Harris should be a priority signing for General Manager Trent Baalke.

Blaine Gabbert

Quarterback Blaine Gabbert was decent in Week 17, finishing with a career-high 354 passing yards on 28-for-44 attempts. Gabbert made a couple of great throws to wide receiver Anquan Boldin (one for a touchdown and the other for a crucial third-down conversion). In overtime he looked much more confident where it appeared the playbook was opened up.

But once again during the majority of the game, Gabbert was guilty of throwing checkdown passes on third-and-long downs, which has been his major issue since he became the starting quarterback.

Indeed, this trait is backed up by statistics, as shown by Scott Kacsmar of Football Outsiders:

Throwing short of the first-down marker 65 percent of the time will not win you a lot of football games, which of course the 49ers did not. This issue was a combination of Gabbert and offensive coordinator Geep Chryst’s play-calling, which was just pathetically so conservative 99 percent of the time.

With the 49ers offense finishing with a NFL-worst 32nd-ranked offense, there is no way that Chryst will be retained.

However, for Gabbert, he is the front-runner right now to be the 49ers starting QB for 2016. With Colin Kaepernick and his $15,890,753 2016 cap number, and now another surgery on his right thumb, his future looks cloudy at best and release material at worst.

Gabbert carries a mere $2,250,000 cap number for next season. He has shown enough overall to be part of the 2016 QB group, and the resultant QB competition to be the starter for Week 1. Whoever becomes the head coach will ultimately make this decision, for it seems almost certain that the 49ers will draft a QB in the draft.

Next: 49ers: 5 Players Who Exceeded Expectations in 2015

Week 17 carried on some season-long poor traits, but also carried many positives for these 49ers players. Each player has a chance in 2016 to get better under new coaches and schemes.

All statistics, records and accolades courtesy of Pro-Football-Reference.com and ESPN.com unless otherwise indicated. Contractual information courtesy of Over the Cap.