Escaping Week 1 with a win over the Seattle Seahawks was perhaps the lone positive takeaway for the San Francisco 49ers.
They suddenly head into their next game against the New Orleans Saints with a rash of injuries, which is concerning, albeit unpredictable.
Nonetheless, something that could've been avoided was spending a second-round draft pick on Alfred Collins, the former Texas defensive tackle who clearly wasn't ready for his NFL debut.
Collins only logged nine defensive snaps in the Niners' 17-13 victory over the Hawks (and three on special teams). But he didn't just fail to make an impact on the field; his presence also made a negative impact.
The practically nonexistent box score production, advanced metrics and the good ol' eye test all tell the same story.
Making the leap from college to the pros is a massive adjustment that most of us can't properly quantify from experience, especially in the trenches. However, the way-too-early results indicate Collins still has a ways to go to live up to the expectations of his lofty draft billing. Choosing the rookie defensive tackle with this year's No. 43 overall selection appears to be an overzealous decision that's already aging poorly for San Francisco.
Alfred Collins' lackluster NFL debut has 49ers fans questioning second-round pick
With one assisted tackle to show for his minimal playing time in Seattle, there's not much tape to review on Collins. Yet, what didn't show up in the stat sheet was glaringly bad on the all-22. The Seahawks welcomed him to the league with complicated protection schemes.
Kyle Posey of Niners Nation identified one sequence in which the Seahawks confused Collins by showing one offensive lineman and blocking him with another. Recognizing those types of techniques and tricks before they happen comes with more reps. Nevertheless, as an early Day 2 prospect, the learning curve isn't supposed to be as steep as it seems to be.
Pro Football Focus ($) graded Collins as the No. 134-ranked interior defender in Week 1 -- out of 134 qualified options! He earned slightly below-average marks as a pass-rusher, and his efforts in the run-stopping department were poor. For what it's worth, at least tackling at an average but unexceptional level wasn't a problem for him.
It may have gotten lost in the 49ers' thrilling comeback to beat Seattle or slew of health issues, but Collins' performance was notably rough.
Be that as it may, this could become more of a talking point if he doesn't dramatically turn things around sooner rather than later.