San Francisco 49ers |

Kurtenbach: The 49ers didn’t want to show much in the preseason, but you can’t hide speed

SANTA CLARA — The 49ers’ season will not be made by their preseason opener win over the Packers — just as their season would not be lost had they lost on Friday night.

With 26 players not participating and both coaches trying to show off as little of their playbooks as possible, there is only so much that can be gleaned from a game like Friday’s.

Yes, Niners coach Kyle Shanahan might have wanted to hide much of his team and his tactics, but a coach can only do so much.

Amid the malaise and perfunctory snaps Friday, an undercurrent of speed broke through.

You can’t hide something like that.

The Niners’ first two offensive touchdowns came from new 49ers who bring serious wheels to the Bay. Two of the Niners’ three interceptions came from a player whose speed has taken him from an unknown until late in the NFL Draft process to a possible starter for a Super Bowl contender this season.

There are a lot of characteristics that a team needs to play good football, but if a team can be anything in this day and age of pass-happy, spread-out offenses, they should be fast.

This Niners team might just be that.

The first touchdown of the game for the Niners was pretty simple: Danny Gray, who runs a hyper-elite 4.33-second 40-yard dash, ran, well, a 40-yard dash.

Trey Lance laid a good-looking, arcing pass into Gray’s path, but the touchdown was all SMU product’s doing. He beat his man off the line of scrimmage in the slot, slowed down enough to catch Lance’s pass, and outran his defender again down the far sideline for a 73-yard touchdown.

“With my speed and confidence, I feel like no one can touch me,” Gray said.

It’s hard to argue with that after Friday’s game.

It’s also hard to say what Gray will be as a receiver — his career is just starting. But one thing he has proved so far in training camp is that he is a deep threat. That’s all speed, and it gives Shanahan all sorts of options in the pass game and Lance even more once the ball is snapped.

For an offense that has far too often needed to be incredibly precise to move the ball in recent years, Lance’s ability to run as well as touch every part of the field with throws is a godsend. It’s also nice to have someone you can line up in the slot against a safety and know he’ll win every time, and win big.

Precision is nice. Simply being faster is better.

Sometimes it is as simple as “throw it to the fast guy,” as Lance said when asked to break down his touchdown throw after the game.

That receiver in the slot could also be Ray-Ray McCloud. The veteran Clemson product might not be as fast as Gray, but he has made a living in the NFL being faster and shiftier than his NFL Draft Combine testing stats and his peers.

It wasn’t so much McCloud’s speed that left him wide open for the Niners’ second touchdown one play after Gray’s — it was a massive defensive breakdown from the Packers — but McCloud recognized it and took full advantage. Credit to backup quarterback Nate Sudfield for holding strong in the pocket and delivering a pass McCloud could catch like so many punts he’s returned through the years.

Speed matters. It changes games. And when you add in the undefinable but elite athleticism of Deebo Samuel and the breakout talent of Brandon Aiyuk to the mix, there’s a lot to like in this Niners’ passing game, regardless of the quarterback at the helm.

But we’ve waited too long to mention the star of Friday’s game: rookie defensive back Samuel Womack. The Toledo product was a surprise fifth-round pick in the most recent draft, but the Niners liked his pairing of tenacity and elite speed.

He had not shown much in camp, but he showed more than enough to make an impression on Friday, intercepting two passes. The first because of his tenacity — he simply ripped the ball from Packers receiver Romeo Doubs — and the second because of his speed — he closed fast on a pass over the middle. Packers quarterback Jordan Love — who had three interceptions on the day, all in succession — didn’t see him.

“26 from the niners nice,” Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill — the fastest man in the NFL and self-proclaimed fasted man in the world — tweeted Friday.

After the game, Shanahan said that Womack has a chance to be the team’s starting nickel back in Week 1. There is still a month before that game, but Friday’s contest was a great start to the rookie’s NFL career and the 49ers’ preseason.

If you can be anything in the NFL, be fast. The 49ers might just be that this season, amongst so

many other things.

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