The injury bug has struck the San Francisco 49ers once again.
For the second year in a row, starting quarterback Brock Purdy is poised to miss time. This time, for a toe and left shoulder injury.
And now, backup quarterback Mac Jones may step in for Sunday's game against the New Orleans Saints, provided head coach Kyle Shanahan's comments about it being "a long shot" for Purdy to start ultimately come true.
Being the starter isn't anything unfamiliar for the former first-round pick. But he's spent much of his career after his rookie season being in and out of the spotlight. However, getting the chance to prove his worth once again with Shanahan's support could turn his fortune around. Much in the same way it did for former 49ers backup, Sam Darnold, whom the Niners faced in Week 1 in their victory against the Seattle Seahawks.
How 49ers can get the most out of Mac Jones
One way the 49ers can get the most out of Jones will be in the play-action game. This is an area Shanahan excels in getting the most out of his offense. Especially with a strong running game.
Luckily for the Niners, the Alabama product has produced very well on play action. In the preseason, Jones went a perfect 6-of-6 for 66 yards on play-action pass plays. Through Jones' career, he's completed 70.3 percent of such passes for 2,767 yards. That accounts for roughly 26 percent of his total yards in his career. He's also thrown 13 touchdowns to 10 interceptions on play action.
Expect a deep passing game. Jones has been exceptional throughout his career at pushing the ball downfield. In the preaseason, he was a perfect 3-of-3 on throws 20 yards or more. He also earned himself a Pro Football Focus grade of 92.7 with a big-time throw percentage of 66.7 percent. In his first three seasons, he had a passing grade of 72.0 or better, including in 2021 and 2022 when he had a passing grade of 88.0 and 84.6, respectively.
But, look for the deep passing game to happen outside of the numbers as opposed to being over the middle. In Jones' career, he's had five touchdowns to five interceptions when throwing it deep left and right. On throws deep over the middle, Jones has thrown seven touchdowns to 10 interceptions.
Look for Jones to avoid throwing it over the middle on a lot of throws. Especially on the intermediate throws. He's thrown seven touchdowns to nine interceptions on throws 10 to 19 yards down the field. A much different story on throws outside the numbers where he's thrown 14 touchdowns to eight picks on throws 10-19 yards to the left and right of the field. In fact, we might not see a lot throws in the intermediate game. In the preseason, both of Jones' throws were within 10 to 19 yards past the line of scrimmage.
Lastly, provided Jones gets the start on Sunday, expect a heavy dose of the run game.
One of the ways Jones benefited from the New England Patriots in his first season — which resulted in a Pro Bowl — was because of the success in the rushing attack. In 2021, New England ranked eighth in rushing yards. After that season, Jones wasn't a part of a run game that was ranked higher than 24th in the next three seasons.
So, expect the old philosophy of the run setting up the pass a lot on Sunday as Christian McCaffrey and Brian Robinson look to take the pressure off Jones.
It's going to be a different look from what Purdy does for the 49ers. Especially when taking out the intermediate passing game.
But Shanahan's offense should still remain successful even with the likely change in starting quarterback for Sunday.