{"id":276143,"date":"2025-08-10T05:39:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-10T05:39:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/276143\/"},"modified":"2025-08-10T05:39:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-10T05:39:10","slug":"jordan-watkins-shines-in-preseason-opener-nbc-sports-bay-area-california","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/276143\/","title":{"rendered":"Jordan Watkins shines in preseason opener \u2013 NBC Sports Bay Area & California"},"content":{"rendered":"

BOX SCORE<\/a><\/p>\n

While the Denver Broncos played several starters in a 30-9 win over the 49ers on Saturday night at Levi’s Stadium, San Francisco opted to sit most of its top players, including quarterback Brock Purdy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

That opened the door for 2021 first-round NFL draft pick Mac Jones<\/a> to get significant reps as the 49ers’ starting signal-caller.<\/p>\n

Jones, on his third NFL team and in line to be Purdy’s backup, got off to a stellar start, hitting rookie wide receiver Jordan Watkins<\/a> for a 50-yard completion on the third play of the game. Five plays later, running back Patrick Taylor Jr.<\/a> capped the possession with a 5-yard touchdown run to give San Francisco an early lead.<\/p>\n

The 49ers took a 9-0 lead on a safety late in the first quarter when Broncos starting quarterback Bo Nix<\/a> was penalized for intentional grounding in the end zone.<\/p>\n

But that’s where the good times stopped for the 49ers.<\/p>\n

The 26-year-old Jones completed four of his seven pass attempts<\/a> for 74 yards. His night ended when he threw an interception to end the 49ers’ third drive.<\/p>\n

Denver went on to score the next 20 points and took an 11-point lead into the halftime break.<\/p>\n

Points were hard to come by in the second half, as the Broncos added a Wil Lutz 45-yard field goal late in the third quarter and a 7-yard Sam Elhinger touchdown pass to tight end Caden Prieskorn with 2:15 remaining in regulation.<\/p>\n

Quarterback Carter Bradley completed 6 of 14 pass attempts for 32 yards and threw one interception. Tanner Mordecai<\/a>, who re-signed with the 49ers this week<\/a>, completed 3 of his 6 pass attempts for 21 yards. But he also threw an interception.<\/p>\n

The 49ers will watch the film and begin preparing to face the Raiders next Saturday night at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.<\/p>\n

Here are Matt Maiocco’s takeaways from the 49ers’ preseason-opening loss to the Broncos:<\/p>\n

49ers sit out top players<\/p>\n

The 49ers\u2019 starters got in plenty of work Thursday against the Broncos during their joint practice. On Saturday, coach Kyle Shanahan turned it over to youngsters and others fighting for roster spots.<\/p>\n

Left guard Ben Bartch<\/a>, linebacker Dee Winters<\/a> and safety Jason Pinnock<\/a> were the only projected starters to see action for the 49ers against the Broncos.<\/p>\n

There are plenty of jobs up in the air on the 49ers\u2019 defense. They had some players who had solid showings. Rookie safety Marques Sigle<\/a> started and had seven tackles before leaving the game with a knee injury.<\/p>\n

Nickel back Chase Lucas<\/a> forced Nix into a safety for intentional grounding while in the end zone.<\/p>\n

Defensive linemen Kalia Davis<\/a>, Sebastian Valdez and Robert Beal Jr.<\/a> flashed in the first half with quarterback sacks.<\/p>\n

Watkins makes his case<\/p>\n

Watkins delivered with a big play on the 49ers\u2019 first drive of the game. What made it eye-opening was that it came against the Broncos\u2019 No. 1 defense.<\/p>\n

Watkins, a fourth-round draft pick from Ole Miss<\/a>, was matched against Denver nickel back Ja\u2019Quan McMillian. Watkins made the contested catch of Mac Jones\u2019 pass 25 yards down the field. McMillian fell and Watkins remained on his feet. Former 49ers safety Talanoa Hufanga made the tackle of Watkins after a 50-yard gain.<\/p>\n

Watkins is gaining momentum<\/a> to be a major factor in the 49ers\u2019 offense from Week 1 of the regular season behind projected starters Jauan Jennings and Ricky Pearsall.<\/p>\n

49ers score on Denver starters<\/p>\n

Purdy and the 49ers\u2019 first-team offense struggled for most of the practice against the Broncos\u2019 defense. But the San Francisco’s No. 2 offense had little problem on the opening drive in Saturday\u2019s game against Denver\u2019s top players.<\/p>\n

Jones connected on all three pass attempts for 62 yards and picked up 2 yards on a run up the middle on fourth and 1. The 49ers scored on Taylor Jr.\u2019s 5-yard touchdown run to cap the first drive of the game.<\/p>\n

The Broncos are expected to have one of the NFL’s top defenses this season. Former 49ers linebacker Dre Greenlaw (quadriceps) did not play, but most of Denver\u2019s top players started the game.<\/p>\n

The Broncos made things a lot more difficult on Jones in his only other two series of action. After a three-and-out, including two sacks, Jones threw an interception. McMillian picked off a pass intended for Watkins.<\/p>\n

Download and follow the 49ers Talk Podcast<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BOX SCORE While the Denver Broncos played several starters in a 30-9 win over the 49ers on Saturday…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":276144,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2026],"tags":[53525,7,8072,5215],"class_list":{"0":"post-276143","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-49ers-observations","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-jordan-watkins","11":"tag-mac-jones"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115002865411317448","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276143","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=276143"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276143\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/276144"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=276143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=276143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=276143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}