Alfred Collins Is Named Once In The Entire Play-By-Play

Alfred Collins played 29 of San Francisco's 66 defensive snaps at Las Vegas on Thursday, 44 percent, and the official game book's play-by-play names him exactly once. It is an assist, in the second quarter, on a four-yard run up the middle. Ogbo Okoronkwo made the tackle. The defensive statistics page carries Collins for that one assist and nothing else: no solo tackle, no tackle for loss, no quarterback hit.

He is in his second season, per the experience column of the club's own roster page. Kyle Posey at Niners Nation, who went back through the tape on Friday morning, wrote that Collins "played late into the third quarter" and that Kyle Shanahan put the workload down to rust. Posey's own read was harder: "Collins has not been effective. It was the same as it's been in each of the previous two games for Collins. He was moved easily against the run and did not win as a pass rusher."

PFF's grades from that night agree with him, and the shape of the agreement is the useful part. The four lowest-graded San Francisco defenders in the game, in PFF's set, all played defensive tackle. Collins is one of them. C.J. West, Evan Anderson and James Thompson Jr. are the other three.

The public record says something similar without a grade attached. San Francisco recorded two sacks, and both belong to men who rush from the edge: Keion White for 11 yards and Okoronkwo for nine, both in the second quarter. The four tackles for loss went to Tatum Bethune, Okoronkwo, White and Jah Joyner. No interior lineman is credited with either.

The Did Not Play list on the first page of the game book is the other half of it. Nick Bosa, Osa Odighizuwa, Sam Okuayinonu, Romello Height and Mykel Williams are all on it. What played inside on Thursday is the depth, and the depth is what the club leans on while Williams is out.

Enrique Cruz Jr. never came off the field#

Cruz started at left tackle and played all 61 offensive snaps. Nobody else on the San Francisco offense played more than 53.

Read that against the same Did Not Play list and part of it is availability. Trent Williams, Dominick Puni, Jake Brendel, Colton McKivitz, Vederian Lowe, Brett Toth, Robert Jones and Austen Pleasants all sat. Cruz was the tackle who was there.

The grades liked what he did with the night anyway. PFF put him fourth among the 22 San Francisco offensive players it graded, and inside that, his run-blocking grade ranks second among the eight 49ers linemen who played while his pass-blocking grade ranks sixth. He arrived as the 179th pick of April's draft, out of Kansas, after four seasons at Syracuse.

The left guard problem is the run game, and everybody says so#

Carver Willis started at left guard for the second straight game and played 25 snaps. PFF's grades from Thursday put him last among all 22 San Francisco offensive players it graded, linemen and skill players together. The split underneath that is where the argument is. His run-blocking grade is last of the 19 San Francisco players PFF charted as run blockers, and his pass-blocking grade sits in the middle of the eight linemen.

Three people watched those 25 snaps and filed three readings, and they converge once you line them up.

Matt Maiocco of NBC Sports Bay Area, writing Thursday night, said Willis "appeared to play well both in pass protection and getting to the second level to make blocks in the run game," and that it would seem to make him the favorite to open the season in the starting lineup. Kyle Posey, going through the tape the next morning, wrote that Willis "still looks unsure of who to block at times when on the move."

Willis himself, to The Athletic this week: "My angles in the run game aren't very complementary of the guys next to me." He described the run scheme as choreography and put his own problem at a half step out of it. "There are so many plays where you can see that the four guys next to me, their hips are on a different angle than mine."

The player, the grading service and one of the two film reads are all pointing at the same twelve inches of grass. Which matters because of the grade this coaching staff weights. The Athletic's account of the competition says the 49ers scrutinize run blocking above pass protection, and that the reason is a season in which the team's yards per carry fell below four for the first time under Shanahan.

Nick Zakelj played 46 snaps behind him and graded the same shape in the opposite order: second among the eight linemen in PFF's pass-blocking grades, second from the bottom in its run-blocking grades.

Khalil Herbert graded highest on offense, on 12 snaps#

Herbert took 12 of the 61 offensive snaps, 20 percent, the same workload the club gave Kaelon Black and Sincere McCormick. He carried eight times for 39 yards with a long of 16, caught both balls thrown at him, and returned two kickoffs for 55 yards with a long of 34. PFF graded him the highest of the 22 San Francisco offensive players in the game.

Twelve snaps is twelve snaps. He is also in his sixth season, which is the other reason to hold the grade lightly: this is a veteran running downhill in the fourth quarter of the last exhibition either side will play.

Behind him the backfield split cleanly. Jordan James ran eight times for 35 yards with a 17-yard carry and turned a screen into 20 more. He also lost a yard on one attempt and drew the low block that wiped out a nine-yard touchdown pass to Hayden Rucci in the third quarter. Black carried four times for 28 with a long of 14. McCormick carried seven times for eight yards, an average of 1.1. PFF's rushing grades from the game rank James first among the San Francisco backs and McCormick last.

Darrell Luter Jr. started, and graded second on the whole defense#

Luter started at cornerback, played 51 of the 66 defensive snaps and finished with a tackle and two passes defensed, tied with Siran Neal for the team lead. He is in the play-by-play on the only interception San Francisco got, a deep ball down the middle that Bethune took at the Las Vegas 38 with Luter credited as the coverage.

PFF ranked him second among the 25 San Francisco defenders it graded, behind only Deion Jones, and second in its coverage grades. He is a fourth-year corner. Neal, who is 32 and in his ninth season, played 49 snaps and graded third in that same coverage set.

Jalen Graham started at linebacker, played 31 defensive snaps and 15 on special teams, and produced the widest split of the night. PFF gave him the highest run-defense grade of any San Francisco defender in the game and the lowest coverage grade of the 13 San Francisco players it charted in coverage. Two answers about one man on one evening, which is roughly what a fourth preseason game is built to produce.

Sources: official NFL game book, San Francisco at Las Vegas, August 27, 2026, Allegiant Stadium (lineup card, Did Not Play, individual statistics, defensive statistics, play-by-play, Playtime Percentage); 49ers.com roster page, read August 29; 49ers.com draft release, April 25; Kyle Posey, Niners Nation, August 28; Matt Maiocco, NBC Sports Bay Area, August 27; The Athletic, August 28; Pro Football Focus game grades from August 27 at Las Vegas.