Five 49ers who made strong first impressions in preseason loss to the Broncos

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What was the most notable team-wide takeaway of the 49ers' 30-9 loss to the Denver Broncos in Saturday's preseason opener?

A group of 49ers' depth pieces — almost all of the starters didn't play — actually held a distinct upper hand over Denver's starters, who played three series to open the game.

Yes, that was the same Denver defensive unit that smothered the 49ers' first-team offense to begin Thursday's joint practice. Brock Purdy and Co. turned it around later in that session, but on Saturday the Broncos struggled from the onset — this time against quarterback Mac Jones and the 49ers' reserves.

Caveat: This is the preseason, where coaches muzzle their schemes and call games with player evaluation — and not necessarily winning — in mind. But the 49ers' early vibrance was noteworthy nonetheless.

Jones hit rookie receiver Jordan Watkins with a perfect deep ball for a 50-yard gain. Watkins made a physical catch, shielding himself from Denver cornerback Ja'Quan McMillian. Five plays later, 49ers running back Patrick Taylor Jr. waltzed into the end zone, sprung free by tight end Brayden Willis' effective block of Broncos outside linebacker Nik Bonitto.

Denver's first stringers settled in after that. In the big picture, the retooled 49ers will need competent showings from their young players — especially draft picks of the past two cycles — and they certainly seemed to be on the right track against Denver's strongest opposition.

The 49ers' defense was even more promising. The Broncos' starting offense played three possessions and managed only a third-drive field goal. The 49ers even netted a safety when defensive coordinator Robert Saleh unleashed a nickel blitz from Chase Lucas that coaxed Denver QB Bo Nix into intentional grounding from the end zone.

"I told Saleh if you let it rip [with blitzes], I'm going to show you some things," Lucas said. "And he stuck true to his word."

Essentially all of Denver's success came beyond the first quarter, when this game fully entered the territory of a glorified practice for youngsters and players further down the depth chart on both sides of the ball.

Therefore, it's most effective to analyze this outing not through team-wide results — that's what the regular season is for! — but instead through the lens of five players who stood out for the 49ers.

No, quarterback Carter Bradley will not make this list. He struggled mightily after relieving Jones, finishing 6-of-14 for 32 yards with one interception. Perhaps Tanner Mordecai, who came into finish Saturday's game, will get an earlier audition for the 49ers' QB3 role behind Purdy and Jones when the team plays the Las Vegas Raiders next week.

Perhaps the single most impressive 49ers play came in the first quarter, when Nix lofted a third-down ball for 6-foot-4 wide receiver Courtland Sutton in the end zone. Luter leapt high and outstretched his arms to break up the pass.

At a height of six feet, the third-year cornerback was technically at a four-inch disadvantage against Sutton. But Luter has a 40.5-inch vertical leap and 32 3/8-inch arms, both very good numbers relative to other cornerbacks.

Those measurements give Luter a strong chance to win the 49ers' third cornerback job, which Saleh says is wide open. Other competitors include veteran Dallis Flowers, who recovered from a missed tackle to deliver a nice diving tackle for loss on Saturday, and Tre Brown. He's another veteran, and he forced a fumble in the second half.

Early returns on the 49ers' 2024 draft class were good. That was perhaps the biggest silver lining of the team's torturous 6-11 season. But Bethune, a seventh-round pick of that crop from Florida State, did not manage to crack the lineup during his rookie season.

This time, with veterans such as Dre Greenlaw and De'Vondre Campbell no longer around, there's much more opportunity at linebacker. Dee Winters seems to have a runaway hold on the No. 2 spot, but the third linebacker role remains open.

Bethune was assertive over six stops and certainly looked more polished than rookie Nick Martin, who logged a few tackles of his own but badly missed on at least two. Martin missed most of his final season at Oklahoma State with a knee injury, so it'll probably take some time for him to acclimate to NFL speed and angles. That pits Bethune in a competition with fellow veterans Luke Gifford, Chazz Surratt, Jalen Graham, and Curtis Robinson.

When the rookie safety left the game with what the 49ers believe is a knee bruise, he led all of the team's defenders with seven tackles — five solo. From the naked eye (we'll be able to delve further into the tape this week), Sigle played a clean game at Saleh's "Eraser" safety position. His speed — Sigle's 4.37 40-yard dash is the fastest of any rookie safety in the NFL — was on clear display.

"It comes down to film study and being confident in playing fast, regardless of if you mess up or not," Sigle said. "That was the biggest thing in my mind, regardless of good play, bad play — I'm always doing the next play, so I'm just going to play fast every play."

Sigle even worked through a big crowd to stop one Denver outside run. Considering that the majority of Sigle's action came against established NFL starters, that's significant. Remember safety Malik Mustapha's rookie season ascent last season? If Sigle can deliver just a solid fraction of that for the 49ers in 2025, they'll have real optionality at a very important position — the last line of defense.

The seventh-round pick, who returned eight punts for touchdowns (an FCS record) in college at Montana, took his first NFL try back for 26 yards.

That was promising because the 49ers drafted Bergen to do just that. He also returned two kicks for 40 combined yards and, most importantly, held onto the football both times. That's been easier said than done for the 49ers' return units in recent years.

Bergen did drop a slant from Bradley in the second half, but his path to making this 49ers' 53-man roster will be through special teams. And it was a solid start in that realm for the rookie.

The 49ers' current injury rash at defensive tackle creates a big opportunity for Davis, a third-year man who has easily played the best football of his career so far in training camp.

On Saturday, Davis certainly made more noise than rookie 49ers' defensive tackles Alfred Collins and CJ West. He swatted away Denver starting center Luke Wattenberg for a key early pressure and later backed down guard Nick Gargiulo into the quarterback for a sack.

Davis has some experience now, and Saturday suggested that might make him a veteran with an inside track for a spot in the defensive line rotation.