By admin 
SANTA CLARA – If you told Kyle Shanahan that by Week 3 of the 2026 season his front office would already be playing actuarial roulette with the NFL’s eight-man injured reserve return limit, he’d probably have asked for a stiff drink. If you told him he’d be defending Levi’s Stadium with a defensive line assembled from waiver claims, practice squad promotions, and depth pieces, he’d have begrudgingly believed you.
Read more Photo Highlights: San Francisco 49ers hang on to beat Arizona Cardinals 36-30
What’s new?
And those were just the concerns before the game. Once the Niners kicked off against the Arizona Cardinals Sunday, more San Francisco players were picked off by the injury gods.
Yet it simply didn’t matter because the Niners have Brock Purdy operating at full processor speed and a head coach who treats third-and-12 from his own 18-yard line like a kid on the playground, drawing up cool plays in the dirt.
And it surely doesn’t matter when you have Fred Warner, Dre Greenlaw, Christian McCaffrey and George Kittle all looking like prime versions of themselves.
The 49ers’ roster might be covered in red ink, but the team is still rolling at 3-0 after a 36-30 win. Here are the studs and duds from Week 3:
💪 STUDS
Brock Purdy, QB
Game Stats: 15-of-27, 297 passing yards, 4 TD, 0 INT (133.8 passer rating) • 2 scrambles, 34 yards (45-yard TD nullified by penalty)
Purdy was the adult in the room all afternoon, calmly piloting an offense that was shedding Pro Bowl personnel by the drive.
When Shanahan needed chunk plays, Purdy delivered.
When he needed to control the game, Purdy delivered.
Late, when the game was in the balance, Purdy and Kittle just played pitch-and-catch down the field for a critical touchdown with 8:42 to play, making it a two-score game.
And, finally, up only two with 2:51 to play, well, that’s when McCaffrey delivered, but, just for kicks, Purdy decided to get in on the running action with a 45-yard scramble run for a touchdown.
When that touchdown was nullified, he hit Kittle for a 20-yard touchdown.
There’s no quarterback in football playing at a higher level right now.
Christian McCaffrey, RB
Game Stats: 15 carries, 75 rushing yards (5.0 YPC), 1 TD • 4 receptions, 41 receiving yards (116 total yards from scrimmage)
This looks like prime CMC. He’s not losing any speed while popping horizontal jump cuts that left defenders clutching air, he’s bouncing off of would-be tacklers.
And when the 49ers needed him to ice the game, he did it with aplomb, pulling in an incredible catch on the 49ers’ first play of their final offensive drive. Then he found a way to turn a strange second-and-10 run play just before the two-minute warning that had nothing going but turned into a first down because CMC decided he wasn’t going down.
Elite player, vintage performance. The Niners are going to need that week-in, week-out.
Fred Warner, LB
Game Stats: 17 total tackles (8 solo), 1 tackle for loss (minus-3 yards), 1 QB hit
Warner is playing at an elite level – so, he’s playing like Fred Warner.
On Arizona’s goal-to-go sequence in the second quarter, Warner snuffed out Tyler Allgeier for an effortless three-yard loss in the backfield. When Arizona was threatening to take the lead in the fourth quarter, Warner met Jeremiyah Love in the A-gap on third-and-2 at the 49ers’ 20-yard line, stonewalling him for no gain. He had one unnecessary roughness penalty and a friendly-fire collision with Lenoir that chased the corner from the game, but without Warner, this defense gives up 35 points easily.
Mike Evans, WR
Game Stats: 3 receptions, 34 receiving yards, 1 TD, 1 lateral assist for an 80-yard TD (114 scrimmage yards accounted for)
Read more Niners’ nuggets: 49ers hold off Arizona as Purdy and Co. sizzle again
Evans did not play a single snap in the second half due to a severe rib injury, yet he remains one of the premier studs of this game. His first-half line was pure theatre: a selfless catch and pitch to Deebo for an 80-yard house call, followed by a 23-yard masterpiece of a touchdown grab on a go-route where he never showed his hands and pinned the ball to his chest against tight coverage.
The 49ers are holding their breath for his health. With him, they’re a team to beat. Without him? Well, that’s a storyline they don’t want to have to discover.
George Kittle, TE
Game Stats: 6 receptions, 82 receiving yards (13.7 YPR), 2 TD
With Evans out of commission, Kittle reminded the football world why he remains the premier tight end weapon in the sport. He terrorized Arizona linebackers Mack Wilson, Jack Gibbens and Baron Browning across the middle all afternoon.
Kittle scored two fourth-quarter touchdowns – a 10-yard post where he isolated Browning one-on-one, and the 20-yard dagger down the right sideline that iced the game. With Evans out, he became the focal point of the pass offense. It’s truly incredible this guy tore his Achilles tendon this calendar year.
Kaelon Black, RB
Game Stats: 4 carries, 17 rushing yards (4.3 YPC)
The rookie is earning Shanahan’s trust in real time. Black ran with violent conviction in the second half, picking up six yards down to the 1-yard line to set up McCaffrey’s touchdown, followed by runs of nine and four yards on the penultimate fourth-quarter touchdown march. He doesn’t yet see the plays develop, but he never hesitates, he drops his pads, and he always delivers punishment.
Khalid Kareem, DE
Game Stats: 1 sack, 2 QB hurries, 3 tackles
With Nick Bosa watching in street clothes, Kareem gave the 49ers really solid, if not statistically significant snaps on the edge. He flushed Brissett in the first quarter, chased down Allgeier on third-and-13 before halftime, and blew through the right tackle in the third quarter to drop the Arizona quarterback for a sack. He played disciplined, high-effort football on an afternoon where the 49ers desperately needed it.
Keion White, DE
Game Stats: 3 total tackles, 1 sack
Another inconsistent game for White, but the flashes were significant. He was immense in the fourth quarter.
Dre Greenlaw, LB
Game Stats: 8 total tackles, 1 QB hit
Greenlaw was a five-star demolition derby in the first half, delivering bone-crunching hits to anyone and everyone in white. That said, in the third quarter, pure exhaustion caught up to him. On Arizona’s 14-play, 8-minute marathon touchdown drive, Greenlaw missed a tackle on Love on 3rd-and-4, then was beaten on a slant by Michael Wilson for a touchdown. He left in the fourth quarter with an injury, but his first-half violence set the tone for the entire afternoon.
Deommodore Lenoir, CB
Game Stats: 5 total tackles, 1 pass defense
Lenoir was knocked out of the game in the second quarter in a collision with Warner, cleared concussion protocol at halftime, and returned to run Marvin Harrison Jr.’s routes for him on the boundary. He got hit with a ticky-tack 19-yard pass interference penalty on 4th-and-2 in the fourth quarter on a play featuring double facemasks, but his coverage was exceptional.
Deebo Samuel, WR
Game Stats: 2 carries, 14 rushing yards • 1 lateral TD (80 yards) • 79 kick return yards
Beyond the 80-yard hook-and-ladder house call, Deebo delivered in the clutch in the fourth quarter, taking an orbit screen around the left edge for 11 yards to set up Kittle’s first touchdown. He’s looking spry.
📉 DUDS
Ji’Ayir Brown, S
Game Stats: 6 tackles, 1 pass deflection, 3 explosive conversions allowed
Brown avoided a complete disaster by batting down a goal-line pass intended for Michael Wilson in the fourth quarter, but his overall game was alarming. He was trucked by Allgeier on third-and-3, got toasted down the seam by McBride for 18 yards, and took an atrocious angle on Love’s 8-yard conversion in the third quarter. Malik Mustapha can make an argument that he’s out playing him. What’s indisputable is that other teams are noticing the boom-bust nature of Brown’s play.
Jacob Cowing, WR
Game Stats: 0 catches, 2 targets
Cowing drifted instead of breaking back toward Purdy on a broken-play scramble toss in the third quarter, turning what should have been a 30-yard completion into an easy pass breakup for Denzel Burke.
Connor Colby, LG
Game Stats: 1 drive-killing holding penalty
The second-year guard had a tough day. He was blown past the backfield on a Black run in the first quarter, and in the third quarter wiped out an 8-yard Purdy scramble on 3rd-and-8 with a holding penalty. In the second half, Purdy was running for his life, as wide receivers couldn’t separate and the left side of his line – Vederian Lowe and Colby – couldn’t pass protect. It’s clear that duo had not practiced together, at all, this August. Sunday was a time to figure each other out, and it turned into a bad time for the 49ers’ offense.
Read more Trevor Lawrence with Another Dominating Performance Against Mike Vrabel’s Defense
Copyright 2026 Tribune Content Agency. All Rights Reserved.
This story was originally published September 27, 2026 at 4:40 PM.