Key Matchups to Watch as Seahawks Battle 49ers in Season Opener
Opening the second season of the Mike Macdonald era against their biggest rivals, the Seattle Seahawks will aim to get off to a strong start when the San Francisco 49ers visit Lumen Field for a Week 1 battle.
Sunday’s opener stands out as an early statement game in the NFC West, as the Seahawks have sights on taking the next step after narrowly missing the playoffs with 10 wins last season and the 49ers intend to prove they still belong amongst the top contenders in the NFC after injuries led to a disappointing six-win campaign and a last place finish in the division.
Set to rekindle their heated rivalry to kick off a new year, here are six pivotal matchups to watch as the Seahawks and 49ers spar in the Emerald City:
Seahawks tackles Charles Cross and Abraham Lucas versus 49ers defensive ends Nick Bosa, Mykel Williams, and Bryce Huff: Since arriving as the top pick in the 2019 NFL Draft, Bosa has been a nightmare for Seattle’s tackles to try and keep out of the backfield, as he has tallied 10 sacks and a whopping 29 quarterback hits in 10 games, including 1.5 sacks in the last matchup between the rivals last November. In that contest, Lucas surrendered a partial sack against the All-Pro rusher, while former backup Mike Jerrell gave up the other one at Levis Stadium. But while Cross did allow a couple of hits by him on Geno Smith in the first matchup at Lumen Field earlier in the season, he did prevent Bosa from getting a sack, making it the first time in seven games against the Seahawks where he didn’t get one.
Seattle will be aiming to slow down Bosa and his new supporting cast featuring Williams, a first round pick out of Georgia, and Huff, formerly of the Eagles and Jets, with an effective ground game that prevents them from pinning their ears back in pursuit of Sam Darnold on second/third and long situations. It will be crucial for Cross and Lucas to consistently win off the line of scrimmage in the run game, particularly on wide zone concepts, to achieve that goal, and if they are able to do that, it should make life a bit easier on pass plays to protect the quarterback. On the flip side, however, as demonstrated numerous times in the past, not having a complementary ground game could put the two tackles in a precarious spot dealing with one of the NFL’s elite edge rushing threats and capable sidekicks opposite of him.
Seahawks linebackers Ernest Jones and Tyrice Knight versus 49ers running backs Christian McCaffrey and Brian Robinson: Last season, the Seahawks didn’t have to worry about the dynamic dual threat that is McCaffrey in the first game between the two rivals. But even with his absence, the 49ers ran roughshod in the first matchup at Lumen Field under the lights, rushing for 228 yards and nearly seven yards per carry behind reserves Jordan Mason and Isaac Guerendo, who ripped off explosive run after explosive run to silence the 12s. That game may have marked the beginning of the end for starting linebackers Jerome Baker and Tyrel Dodson, who both were out of town and no longer on the roster by the time the teams met again in Santa Clara five weeks later.
Ironically, with McCaffrey back in the lineup in Week 11, Seattle held San Francisco’s running backs to just 91 yards on 22 carries. The pairing of Jones and Knight played a vital role in that success, combining to rack up 23 tackles and five run stops on the afternoon. Heading into Sunday’s latest rematch, McCaffrey may or may not suit up due to a calf issue, but coach Kyle Shanahan has a history of engineering potent ground games even without his starting running back and the presence of Robinson gives the 49ers another viable backfield weapon who can take on a big workload. Regardless of who plays, for the Seahawks to have a chance at a Week 1 victory, they will have to bottle up ball carriers on early downs as they did last November and limit explosives on the ground, with much of that onus falling on Jones and Knight from the middle of the defense.
Seahawks receivers Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Cooper Kupp, and Tory Horton versus 49ers cornerbacks Renardo Green, Deommodore Lenoir, and Upton Stout: Out of all the position groups that look most different from a year ago for San Francisco, the secondary may take the cake. Gone are long-time starting cornerback Charvarius Ward and safety Talanoa Hufanga, who bolted in free agency after being key contributors in the team’s recent Super Bowl runs. In their absence, Green will take over as the new No. 1 corner with Lenoir across from him, while Stout, a third-round pick out of Western Kentucky, will open his rookie season as the primary slot corner in nickel and dime sets. Green impressed as a rookie with a handful of spot starts, including recording a pick against Seattle in the first meeting between the teams, while Lenoir has been a quality three-year starter.
Still, between Green and Stout, San Francisco will be starting a pair of cornerbacks with seven combined NFL starts to their names. A young, inexperienced cornerback group will face off against the duo of Smith-Njigba and Kupp, who interestingly hasn’t had a catch against the 49ers since 2022, as he missed several games against them while with the Rams due to injury. Smith-Njigba had a strong outing in Santa Clara last November, catching six passes for 50 yards on seven targets against Lenoir in coverage and catching both targets thrown his direction with Green covering him. Horton will be the X-factor to watch, as the speedy rookie has a size advantage over Green and Lenoir that could make him a challenging cover downfield, thus opening things up for Smith-Njigba and Kupp underneath.
Seahawks safeties Julian Love, Coby Bryant, and Nick Emmanwori versus 49ers tight end George Kittle: If Bosa has been a nightmare rushing off the edge for the Seahawks to deal with, then Kittle has been the equivalent of night terrors. In his last five games against Seattle, he has caught seven touchdowns, including three games with multiple touchdown receptions and a 181-yard outing back in 2021. While he didn’t play in the second matchup in Santa Clara last year, the perennial All-Pro tight end caught two touchdowns in Week 6 at Lumen Field, snagging one against Love in coverage and the other against former starting safety Rayshawn Jenkins, continuing an extended run of torturing Seattle’s safeties over the years.
Dating back to 2021, of Kittle’s seven touchdowns against the Seahawks, two of them came with Love in coverage, while he also scored against former starters Quandre Diggs and Ryan Neal as well as Jenkins last year. To potentially help the situation in this latest rematch, Seattle invested a second round pick in the 6-3, 220-pound Emmanwori, whose size and elite speed present an intriguing option to pit against the 6-4, 250-pound Kittle as a big-bodied slot. Macdonald may not want to put too much pressure on the rookie early, and both Love and Bryant will have their share of snaps lined up against him, but no matter what, the coaching staff will have to work diligently to provide support for their safeties in an effort to keep the playmaking tight end from wreaking havoc once again.
Seahawks running backs Ken Walker III and Zach Charbonnet versus 49ers linebackers Fred Warner and Dee Winters: The inability to find a balanced offensive attack dogged the Seahawks for the entirety of the 2024 season, but running the football proved to be especially challenging against the 49ers. In their Week 6 loss at Lumen Field, Walker rushed 14 times for 32 yards and just 2.6 yards per carry and the team barely mustered 50 total yards on the ground for the entire game, allowing Bosa and company to feast on Smith with 31 total pressures and four quarterback hits. If not for Smith’s scrambling efforts, including a game-winning rushing touchdown, the numbers wouldn’t have looked much better in Week 11, as Walker was held to 54 yards and under four yards per carry and Charbonnet had three yards on four carries with the run game once again being lackluster.
With a new offensive scheme under Klint Kubiak, running the football will be a greater emphasis for Seattle in 2025, with Walker and Charbonnet once again being the two-headed monster expected to shine behind an improved offensive line. But those expectations will immediately be put to the test, in part due to the brilliance of Warner, who tallied nine tackles and six run stops in Week 6 last season and has been a thorn in the Seahawks’ side stuffing the run over the years. Next to him, Winters wound up starting 10 games last season, but he has a career 15 percent missed tackle rate and received run defense grades under 51.2 each of his first two NFL seasons, so he could be a vulnerability for Robert Saleh’s defense as they try to move forward without former starter Dre Greenlaw.
Seahawks defensive tackles Leonard Williams, Jarran Reed, and Byron Murphy II versus 49ers guards Dominick Puni and Ben Bartch: San Francisco will open a new season with the same starting offensive line as it had for the final month of 2024, including with Puni and Bartch at the guard spots. Puni had a fantastic rookie season, including receiving a sterling 81.5 run blocking grade from Pro Football Focus and garnering PFWA All-Rookie team honors, while Bartch, a former fourth-round pick for the Jaguars, started a pair of games and only allowed one pressure in pass protection during that span. However, before those spot starts late last year, he struggled mightily with a pass protection efficiency rate under 97 percent and lost his starting job in Jacksonville twice.
Coming off a PCL sprain in his knee, Puni may not be 100 percent for the opener and both he and Puni will face a difficult first battle squaring off against Williams, who posted 11 sacks and 16 quarterback hits last season, as well the consistent, reliable Reed. Those two alone would be a tough draw for San Francisco’s guards, but Murphy looks poised for a breakout sophomore season after only producing a partial sack as a rookie, and Week 1 presents a prime audition for him to showcase his improvements from a year ago blowing up run plays and collapsing the pocket on Brock Purdy. If there’s a matchup where the Seahawks could potentially have a substantial advantage, the trenches on defense stands out, especially with Williams and Murphy’s ability to move up and down the line in multiple alignments.
