Cardinals vs. SF 49ers: Breaking down Niners defensive game plan

How SF 49ers limit damage done by DeAndre Hopkins

DeAndre Hopkins has played the Niners twice in his career, averaging 86 yards per game with a total of two touchdowns.

It’s likely, almost guaranteed Hopkins will reel in some chunk yards throughout the course of Sunday’s contest. And even with San Francisco’s vaunted front-four pass rush putting pressure on Kyler Murray, preventing Hopkins from being an X-factor will be nearly impossible.

Especially with the likelihood the Cardinals will line him up opposite the SF 49ers’ No. 2 cornerback, likely Emmanuel Moseley.

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Murray had better efforts passing over the center of the field and to the right side of the formation, and his PFF grade on throws outside the numbers from 10 to 19 yards from the line of scrimmage was a mere 33.7, suggesting putting Hopkins over there would be somewhat counterproductive.

At the same time, Kliff Kingsbury will surely want to take advantage of that particular matchup instead of lining Hopkins up frequently on the strong side against veteran corner Richard Sherman, which equals out the odds a bit in the Niners’ favor.

Yet this is again where a big-nickel defense could come into play for San Francisco, putting in another deep safety with Tarvarius Moore and focusing his attention, along with free safety Jimmie Ward, to that part of the formation.

Combined with Moseley, Hopkins will be facing a lot more triple coverage than the usual one-on-one matchups he’d face if Arizona was able to establish one of its other receiving threats early in the game.

The 49ers and Cardinals kick off on Sunday, Sept. 13 at 4:25 p.m. ET from Levi’s Stadium.