One player on each side of the ball who will break out for the 49ers in the second half

The San Francisco 49ers head into the second half of the season with Super Bowl aspirations. Nothing has changed in that regard. That has been the goal for the Niners since the offseason program began in the spring.

It's not uncommon for teams to get hit by the injury bug. The Detroit Lions lost their best player. The Green Bay Packers have played multiple games without their quarterback. The Los Angeles Rams have rarely had their full complement of weapons.

Everybody suffers from injuries. The 49ers losing Brandon Aiyuk and Javon Hargrave and not having Dre Greenlaw or Christian McCaffrey this season have been substantial losses. Even listing those names sells short the number of games or snaps other critical players have missed. Deebo Samuel, George Kittle, Jauan Jennings, Charvarius Ward. The list goes on and on.

But nobody feels sorry for the 49ers, who are currently on the outside looking in of the NFC playoff picture and a half-game out of the basement in the NFC West. At the same time, there isn't a soul in the football world who is discounting the Niners, a team that has won 70 percent of its games during the past three seasons.

The heroes of the past Brandon Aiyuk's emergence in the second half of the season helped propel the 49ers in 2021. Aiyuk finished ninth in the NFL in the second half of the season, averaging 15.7 yards per reception. Aiyuk finished in the top 15 in first downs and passer rating when targeted.

Defensively, Arden Key was outstanding down the stretch. Linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair deserves a ton of credit, but Key finished with 31 pressures after Week 9, which was inside the top 20 and second on the team behind Nick Bosa. Key made a difference by bringing down the quarterback. His eight sacks in the second half were one fewer than Bosa and seventh in the NFL overall.

Bosa led the league in pressures and quarterback hits in the second half of 2022. Key moved on to Jacksonville, where he continued his strong play. But the 49ers needed an edge presence opposite Bosa. That was Charles Omenihu, who picked up where Key left off the previous season.

Omenihu had 30 pressures in the second half, which put him in the same company as J.J. Watt, Myles Garrett, Matthew Judon, and Brian Burns. The 49ers were paying pennies on the dollar for superstar production.

The offense in 2022 transformed from a run-heavy, play-action offense to a unit that threw the ball more than ever under Kyle Shanahan after Brock Purdy took over for an injured Jimmy Garoppolo. Adding Christian McCaffrey didn't hurt. But it was an extreme makeover on that side of the ball that would carry over into 2023.

There were no saviors needed in 2023 on offense. That was one of the most efficient and explosive units in the past decade. Pick a position, and they were probably near the top of the league. After the bye, McCaffrey averaged six yards per carry and had almost 100 more rushing yards than the player in second place.

Purdy led all quarterbacks in yards per attempt, with eight touchdown passes of at least 20 yards, which led the NFL. Aiyuk averaged almost 19 yards per reception and had the seventh-most yards despite having significantly fewer targets than your typical No. 1 receiver.

Last year needs to be erased from our memories. Offenses don't perform to that level for stretches of three games, let alone the majority of the season. It felt like fan fiction and set unrealistic expectations.

No Arik Armstead in the second half crippled the run defense, as did multiple injuries. Bosa's spectacular play continued — he led the league in sacks after Week 9 — but there wasn't a secondary edge rusher to step up as they had in years past.

It's a coin flip defensively whether Charvarius Ward or Dre Greenlaw was the non-Bosa/Warner hero on defense. I'll go with Mooney.

One of the best parts about Steve Wilks's scheme was the way he funneled passes to Ward. He'd dare teams to throw Ward's way after putting extra help toward the other cornerback or heavily shaded to the middle of the field.

That led to Mooney being one of the most targeted cornerbacks in the NFL, and he did not disappoint. Ward only allowed a 46.5 completion percentage on 43 targets. He had half as many pass breakups (10) than completions allowed (20) and was doing it against the opposition's top wideout. Mooney was incredible.

Who steps up in 2024? This has been the best secondary, with room to spare, under Shanahan's 49ers. There's quality depth, and the starters are well-equipped to handle any receiver. The versatility on the back end gives Nick Sorensen more ammunition than Wilks, DeMeco Ryans, or Robert Saleh ever had.

Greenlaw is the wild card. When does he come back? Does he still play like the bully who has given the Niners the punch-you-in-the-face attitude they need? Is the athleticism still there? Only the 49ers know the answer.

But if we're talking about the defense and know the secondary is set, it'll come down to the pass rush. Bosa has a track record of being the best edge rusher in the NFL in the second half of the season. Who will be his robin this year?

Yetur Gross-Matos just had his practice window opened . He was the trendy preseason pick to be this year's Key and Omenihu. While Gross-Matos could still prove to be a valuable addition, there isn't much to go off after missing much of this season.

Calling Leonard Floyd's season "bad" isn't fair or accurate. On the surface, he's averaging under a half-sack per game, and his pressure rate is underwhelming but consistent.

Floyd has found ways to make just enough plays against the run and the pass to validate bringing him in. Will he get better as the season goes along? Floyd has consistently had around ten sacks in the past four years and sits at three now. So, yes? But, again, we haven't seen it.

The process of elimination brings us to Sam Okuyainonu. A 26-year-old on a one-year contract breaking out in the second half. That feels like the most 49ers thing possible to happen. If we project the offense to improve their scoring with the reinforcements coming back, Okuyaninou's snap count should continue to rise, as should his opportunities to get after the quarterback.

By not adding an edge rusher at the deadline, Sam O and Gross-Matos take on Key and Omenihu's previous roles.

Okuayinonu's quickness, athleticism, and tenacity make him an easy selection. He's a pain in the you know what. Best of all, Okuayinonu plays through the whistle. When he doesn't win initially, the effort doesn't dwindle. It's how he had a sack in the Cowboys game.

Sam O is winning at a better clip than Floyd this season and is the player the Niners hoped they were getting when they signed Gross-Matos.

Win rates this season:

Bosa - 19.2% Okouayinonu - 12.2% Gross-Matos - 10.4% Floyd - 7.9%

Sam O has favorable matchups against guards who aren't athletically in the same stratosphere as him. Sorensen recognized this midway through the season, and the 49ers' pass rush has significantly benefited from this move. That won't change in the second half of the season.

The offense will. McCaffrey helps everything and everyone everywhere. But I'm going with Jennings. If you're going to be a serious contender, you need a perimeter threat. That was Aiyuk. Now, it'll be Jennings.

I can see Pearsall taking over Jennings's role on third downs, where he wins underneath and keeps the offense on the field and ahead of the chains on early downs. But somebody needs to be that intermediate threat, and that's right up Jauan's alley.

The rapport between Purdy and Jennings is well-established. There have been two games where they weren't on the same page, and they've still completed 69 percent of their targets this year on 36 tries. Early in the season, while Aiyuk was still getting acclimated, Jennings was the go-to target. If we ignore the data point in Week 2 — the Vikings are the predominant zone coverage team — Jennings's best games have all been against man-to-man teams.

I'm not predicting another Week 4 outing of 11 receptions for 175 yards, but Jennings' ability to make difficult catches over the middle of the field and Purdy's trust in him down the field and outside of the numbers lead me to believe Jennings will have his first 1,000-yard season of his career.