–49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan was hoping for an embarrassment of riches in his defensive line this season, with the club having exhausted first-round picks on defensive linemen in three consecutive recent drafts.
Also, the club liked what they saw out of Earl Mitchell, Cassius Marsh, D.J. Jones, Sheldon Day and Ronald Blair last season.
But seven games into 2018, the area has to be considered the 49ers’ biggest disappointment.
Shanahan has found himself constantly trying different alignments — looking for the ideal way to use DeForest Buckner, Arik Armstead and Solomon Thomas — a process that, unfortunately, is ongoing.
“You want a slam dunk,” he said of a decision on his four-man lineup up front. “You want it to be so easy that, not just at D-line, but every position, that one guy can do it all. Doesn’t matter the situation, doesn’t matter run-pass, down and distance, one guy can do it all and he can do it better than everyone. When you have that, that’s the guy who gets the most opportunities.
“We’ve had inconsistencies on who those guys are. I think Buck(ner) has definitely a far lead on that on being that guy, and the other guys have had moments. But it’s a little here and a little there. We want them to be more consistent. You talk about roles on teams and you always tell players this: That role is up to them. You want a guy to take that role. If someone does, that’ll make things a lot easier for us.”
–The 49ers likely will be without wide receiver Pierre Garcon against the Cardinals because of a lingering knee issue.
Shanahan hopes to balance that with the return of Dante Pettis, who suffered a knee injury against the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 4 and hasn’t played since.
“It excites us,” Shanahan said of the prospects of getting his second-round pick back. “He tried to go last week at this time, but it was just a walk-through. You could tell through walk-through, just watching him and talking to him that it was too soon. We gave him a whole another week. He feels good; he’s excited to go.
“I’m excited to get him back out there.”
The 49ers are coming off a game in which tight end George Kittle caught five passes for 98 yards and a touchdown, while wideouts Garcon, Marquise Goodwin, Trent Taylor and Kendrick Bourne combined for four catches, 35 yards and no scores.
“I see a lot of potential,” Shanahan said of the wide receiver group. “We haven’t had much consistency with who’s out there (because of injury). We’ve had to mix and match a number of guys at different positions. We’re also doing that to some younger guys, which isn’t totally fair to them. I’m asking them to do a little bit more than they’re ready for.
“We went through that last year, too. There were some up and downs with it. We stuck with it and I thought our guys got a lot better through the year for that and finished pretty strong. I’d like to be in a different situation this year, but it is very similar to what we went through. Our guys have been up and down.”
QUOTE TO NOTE: “He’s just a good route-runner. He’s talented; he’s athletic, so he can turn little plays into big ones. Obviously, we’ve had chemistry going back to college, so I can kind of read him and know what he’s doing pretty easily.” — 49ers quarterback C.J. Beathard, on tight end George Kittle.
BY THE NUMBERS: 15.8 — The number of yards the 49ers average on competed first-down passes, the highest figure in the NFL.
