49ers rising star rookie tops list of team's best players in preseason

The San Francisco 49ers suffered a 19-13 preseason defeat to the Tennessee Titans at Levi's Stadium, but demonstrated resilience in their subsequent 41-17 victory over the Los Angeles Chargers at SoFi Stadium. With two games completed, the team's performance has been analyzed by Pro Football Focus, which has ranked the 49ers' best and worst players.

Offensively, the top performers include WR De Zhaun Stribling with a 90.0 grade, QB Kurtis Rourke at 76.9, WR KhaDarel Hodge at 74.3, RB Khalil Herbert at 73.2, and OL Nick Zakelj at 72.9. Conversely, the bottom performers are QB Mac Jones with a 51.3 grade, OL Enrique Cruz Jr. at 48.1, TE Brayden Willis at 41.4, QB Adrian Martinez at 39.1, and OL Robert Jones at 34.1.

Defensively, the elite players are DL Bryson Eason with an 83.6 grade, CB Jack Jones at 82.8, DL James Thompson Jr. at 79.1, DE Ogbo Okoronkwo at 77.8, and LB Tatum Bethune at 75.8. On the defensive negative side, DE Romello Height ranks lowest with a 47.2 grade, followed by S Jalen Stroman at 41.9, S Patrick McMorris at 33.4, DL Alfred Collins at 30.5, and LB Garret Wallow at 27.0.

In pass protection, OL Connor Coby leads with an 80.0 grade, while OL Enrique Cruz Jr. trails at 56.7. Run-blocking grades are led by OT Austen Pleasants at 70.7, followed by C Jake Brendel at 70.3, C Drake Nugent at 69.8, and OL Nick Zakelj at 68.6. However, OL Robert Jones receives the lowest run-blocking grade of 13.2. In terms of pass-rush, DL James Thompson Jr. is ranked highest at 80.5, followed by DE Ogbo Okoronkwo at 74.7, DL Sebastian Valdez at 73.3, DL Bryson Eason at 72.3, and LB Quinton Bell at 63.3.

Conversely, DE Romello Height suffers from the lowest pass-rush grade of 49.7. Finally, CB Jack Jones leads coverage grades at 88.5, while S Jalen Stroman has the lowest at 32.4.