49ers snap count vs. Saints

The San Francisco 49ers suffered a pair of injuries on Sunday as Tarell Brown and Mike Iupati left the game in the second and third quarter, respectively. This is reflected in the snap count, as Adam Snyder, Tramaine Brock and Eric Wright all saw a boost in their snaps.

Brock was already going to get a lot of work given the 49ers need to go nickel more frequently against the Saints. However, the loss of Brown bumped Wright from the dime back to the nickel back. It is interesting to note that the 49ers appeared to play very little dime once Brown went down. C.J. Spillman got one snap as an extra defensive back, but otherwise, it was mostly nickel when the 49ers went with extra DBs. I had thought Darryl Morris might get an opportunity or two, but his only snaps were on special teams.

The departure of Iupati brought on Adam Snyder at left guard. I want to take a look back at Snyder's second half performance as the 49ers prepare to face Washington this week. There is no word yet on Iupati's status, but the knee injury has been nagging the last couple weeks. If he is unable to go next week, I suspect Joe Looney would get activated.

Among the healthy players, it is worth noting Aldon Smith saw an increase in his work. He got 44 snaps, playing on 64% of total defensive snaps. Part of that had to do with more nickel defense, but earlier in the week, Vic Fangio said Smith was likely to see more snaps. He should continue to see more playing time, but Dan Skuta and Corey Lemonier are proving they can provide some backup work. Lemonier has taken the bigger hit in snaps, so we'll see what happens next week against Washington.