How One Player Just Solidified Himself As a Starter for the 49ers

On Sunday night, the 49ers beat the Atlanta Falcons 20-10. They came into this game wounded, having two of their best defenders out for the season, and were projected to be the underdogs. That wasn't what happened.

The 49ers defense had one of their best performances of the season, sending timely blitzes, doubling Drake London, and slowing Bijan Robinson as much as humanly possible. The entirety of the defense was electric, swarming the Falcons on every play.

The defensive line was getting pressure on Penix, the linebackers, in particular Tatum Bethune, looked like a strong linebacking core, and Robert Saleh was a genius in his playcalling. On the other side of the ball, CMC had his best game since 2023. He accounted for over 200 yards, nearly 2/3rds of the Niners total offense.

Their performance shouldn't be to much of a surprise, especially given Kyle Shanahan's message to the defense throughout the week.

Kyle Shanahan showed the young guys Fred Warner’s first game as a rookie and compared it to last week’s film:

“I turned on Fred’s first game in 2018 and I showed all his clips from that game and it wasn’t what you would think. He had no dreads. He was wearing number 48. Had no… pic.twitter.com/gWp24pL1oq
— Coach Yac 🗣 (@Coach_Yac) October 18, 2025

That message was perfect for this team in its current state. Battered, wounded, and down countless starters. The message is, everyone starts somewhere but what matters is where you go. This defense is filled with youth and guys that hadn't made an impact yet, but now they have. One guy in particular must've been effected by this message and balled out on Sunday. That guy was Chase Lucas.

Chase Lucas has been on the bench most of the season sitting behind rookie Upton Stout. Stout didn't play on Sunday, and Lucas took his opportunity by the horns. Lucas had 26 coverage snaps and was targeted twice, the big target being on the 4th & 1 with 8 minutes left in the 4th quarter. Lucas played Drake London perfectly, and explained how postgame.

Chase Lucas knew what play was coming on his HUGE 4th & 1 PBU due to the tape Robert Saleh and Daniel Bullocks showed earlier in the week and gave all the credit to them.

"When I see [Drake London] motion over I'm like 'oh wow they're really about to run this on 4th & 1. I'm… pic.twitter.com/r41TzlO99r
— KNBR (@KNBR) October 20, 2025

Chase Lucas had the biggest play of the game, and gave all of the credit to his coaches. That speaks to his character as a human. He had the best game of his career, the biggest play of the night, and ended it by giving credit to his coaches and vocalizing his frustrations that he could've been better by intercepting it. That is a guy, that on attitude alone should be a starter, but his play solidified it.

Lucas ended the day as the Niners highest graded player in coverage, receiving a 77.9 Coverage Grade from PFF. If Lucas can look anything like he did on Sunday for the rest of the season, he will easily be a starter and be a weapon on defense next to Lenoir.

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