The Next Evolution of the 49ers Offense

Ever since Kyle Shanahan has coached in the NFL, his offensive scheme has been predicated on the play-action pass.

The 49ers will bring back all 11 starters from their offense next season, but that side of the ball still should look decidedly different, because it's evolving.

Brock Purdy is entering his second full season as the starting quarterback, and teams are getting a better idea of how to defend him. They see that he has the accuracy and anticipation to destroy zone coverages, so they're playing more man-to-man coverage, as we witnessed in the Super Bowl. This adjustment will force Kyle Shanahan to evolve the 49ers offense.

Ever since Kyle Shanahan has coached in the NFL, his offensive scheme has been predicated on the play-action pass. He likes to put his quarterback under center, make him turn his back to the defense and carry out of play fake, which causes the linebackers to rush up to the line of scrimmage and leave a giant void behind them where the quarterback throws the ball.

Play action works much better against zone coverage than man coverage, because zone defenders all have their eyes on the quarterback. Man=to-man defenders all have their backs turned to the quarterback because they're chasing receivers around the field.

So if the 49ers anticipate facing more man-to-man coverage this season, we can expect them to react the way they did in the Super Bowl -- empty backfields, spread formations and lots of passes.

This could be the year the 49ers finally transition from being a run-first offense to a pass-first offense. And they have the quarterback to pull it off. They just need to improve the offensive line in the draft.