San Francisco 49ers: 10 Key Stats to Watch for the Upcoming 2016 Season

No. 7: The Pass Rush

2015 Sack Totals: 28

Sacks are kind of a generic stat, but they’ll go a long way in determining what happens on the previous slide.

Last year, the 49ers finished with a lowly 28 sacks on the season — 29th in the NFL. Linebackers Aaron Lynch and Ahmad Brooks were tied for the team lead with 6.5 sacks apiece, but the 49ers didn’t exactly get a lot of helpful production elsewhere.

Let’s dive a little deeper.

According to Pro Football Focus (subscription required), the Niners generated a total of 47 quarterback hits and 199 pressures.

One player to watch here is second-year defensive end Arik Armstead. He had 30 of those hurries, which ranked second only behind Lynch’s 42.

But, according to Chris Biderman of NinersWire.com, two other players upon whom the 49ers are relying to invigorate the pass rush are linebacker Eli Harold and edge-rusher Tank Carradine.

Biderman wrote:

"Carradine has slimmed down more than 20 pounds to the 270s and will work on the edges as a defensive end in the team’s four-down front for passing situations. That’s similar to the position he played at Florida State as a 4-3 defensive end, when he was viewed as a first-round talent before suffering an ACL tear in his final season. Carradine, 26, was drafted in the second round in 2013 to line up over guard to eventually replace Justin Smith, but saw minimal production at that position during his first three seasons and began the transition to his new role last year. Harold, 22, has his weight up toward 270 after he was pushed around by opposing tackles as a string bean rookie weighing in the 240s. He might be the most important player in the defense’s quest for more sacks, while Brooks recently turned 32 and has seen his production decline over the last two seasons."

Hopefully this makes a difference and, in the end, will get San Francisco’s defense out of the bottom-five rankings in sack totals this year.

Next: No. 6: Simple-Rating Sytem