Five things to watch in 49ers’ season finale at Arizona Cardinals

SANTA CLARA – Not since 2016 have the 49ers lost seven of their final eight games. This season’s ending can match that if the last-place 49ers (6-10) succumb Sunday to the host Arizona Cardinals (7-9).

If so, it would mark the Cardinals’ first NFC West win after November in any season since 2019, a streak of 11 straight defeats.

The 49ers are already assured of finishing last, so their first-round draft status (between Nos. 11 to 14) will weigh on this outcome, as will potential momentum heading into next season, which ends with Super Bowl LX at Levi’s Stadium.

“Let’s start the year 1-0, 2025,” linebacker Fred Warner said. “Finish the season the right way and win, then reflect afterwards.”

Here are five areas to watch in the 49ers’ first season finale since 2020 that didn’t come in a NFC Championship game or Super Bowl:

1. JENNINGS’ 1K QUEST

Jauan Jennings is 77 receiving yards shy of his first 1,000-yard season since arriving as a 2020 seventh-round pick out of Tennessee, where he initially was a backup quarterback to Josh Dobbs, who’ll happen to make his 49ers starting debut this game while Brock Purdy rests a sore elbow.

Jennings’ 1K milestone would be the 35th in team history, and it would be the first by a 49er drafted after the sixth round since Dwight Clark in the 1981 dynasty launch. Half of the 49ers’ 1,000-yard seasons came from Jerry Rice (12) and Terrell Owens (five), with George Kittle reaching his fourth in Monday night’s loss to Detroit.

“It means a lot,” Jennings said. “I’m not going to take anything away from it. I play receiver. I haven’t played receiver my entire life. I’m a receiver now so I take pride in it: 1,000 yards is 1,000 yards.”

In Jennings’ first two seasons at Tennessee, he caught passes from Dobbs, including a Hail Mary to defeat George in 2016. That touchdown went for 43 yards. Dobbs’ duty now is to get him 77 this game.

Said Dobbs: “He was kind of like my understudy to be the next quarterback at Tennessee. And watching him make plays on Sundays at receiver and really growing to the role of, ‘I’m Jauan Jennings, the No. 1 receiver in the NFL’ has been really cool.”

Fun fact: Jennings’ father, Bennie, is in the University of North Alabama Hall of Fame as a tight end who signed as a 1990 undrafted free agent with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, then got drafted in 1991 by the World League of American Football’s Sacramento Surge. He’s since forged a distinguished career in Tennessee law enforcement.

2. JOSH DOBBS’ AUDITION

Dobbs gets his first start since last season, which opened with him going 1-7 for the Cardinals upon being traded from Cleveland and before he got dealt to the Vikings where he went 2-2.

Spending most of this season as the 49ers’ No. 3 emergency quarterback surely was not ideal, even if he added another offensive scheme to his renown intelligence (see: aerospace degree).

Not only is Dobbs a pending free agent, but so is backup Brandon Allen, who could get worked into the mix for his only action outside of November’s losing start in Green Bay. Tanner Mordecai, the No. 4 quarterback and an undrafted rookie, will only debut this game if injuries take out Dobbs and Allen, but Mordecai could be the first quarterback signed after the season, albeit to a “futures” contract via his practice-squad stature.

3. JAKE MOODY’S KICKS

Yes, Jake Moody remains the 49ers’ kicker, at least for one more game in what’s been a tumultuous tenure as a 2023 third-round draft pick. Moody has missed 8-of-18 field-goal attempts since returning from a gruesome ankle injury, which he sustained making a tackle on a kick return Oct. 6 against Arizona. His only missed field-goal before that was a 55-yarder that could have sealed a Week 3 win at Los Angeles.

A missed point-after kick in Monday’s final minute against Detroit could stand as his final one at Levi’s Stadium barring a 2025 comeback. FYI: Moody made all seven of his kicks (six point-after tries, 43-yard field goal) in last season’s NFC West-clinching visit to Arizona.

Moody’s mindset after Monday’s loss: ” Definitely one of the lowest times of my career, dating back to when I first started football. So confidence, you just have to keep it high. You have no other choice as a kicker.” The 49ers could choose to go in a different direction next season, however.

4. ANY DEFENSIVE TAKEAWAY

Takeaways vanished as the 49ers spiraled from being a 5-4 contender briefly atop the NFC West in Week 10 (Arizona improved to 6-4 later on that Nov. 10 day). Not one interception has stuck in 49ers’ hands the past six games, their longest drought since ending the 2018 season without an interception their final eight games.

While their only interception the past eight games came from Isaac Yiadom on Nov. 17 against Seattle, the 49ers’ only fumble recovery in the past 10 games was by Evan Anderson on Dec. 8 against Chicago.

“It’s not good enough,” defensive coordinator Nick Sorensen said. “It’s hard to win games when you’re in the minus all the time or you’re just not taking the ball away. We haven’t done our part there pretty much half the season.”

The 49ers’ 17 takeaways are their second-fewest in a season under Kyle Shanahan (seven in 2018). This season’s interception leaders: Warner and Deommodore Lenoir, with two apiece.

Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray has thrown eight interceptions their last six games, after just three during their 6-4 start. Murray also accounts for four of their nine lost fumbles. James Conner, their 1,000-yard rusher, went on injured reserve this week, and his potential replacement is DeeJay Dallas, whose lost three fumbles since 2023.

5. FAREWELL GAMES?

Adide from the late-season reinforcements filling roster spots, the 49ers have several pending free agents who could be making their final appearances, not to mention some other veterans who might get released or moved as cost-cutting measures.

The top undrestricted free agents, beyond those on Injured Reserve: quarterbacks Dobbs and Allen: cornerbacks Charvarius Ward, Rock Ya-Sin and Yiadom; safeties Talanoa Hufanga and Tashaun Gipson; wide receiver Chris Conley; tight end Eric Saubert; and, running back Patrick Taylor Jr.

Ward is not expected to re-sign with the 49ers and instead relocate closer to his family’s Dallas-area home. He has no interceptions this season, but he made two in last season’s win at Arizona, including a pick-six that bolstered his first Pro Bowl season and Second-Team All-Pro selection.

Notable veterans with sizeable cap figures in 2025: George Kittle ($22 million), Deebo Samuel ($16 million), Leonard Floyd ($10 million), Yetur Gross-Matos ($9.6 million), Kyle Juszczyk ($6.5 million), Maliek Collins ($5 million), and Jordan Elliott ($3.5 million). Samuel’s wrist and rib injuries kept him out of practice this past week; his four touchdowns are the second-lowest total of his career, behind the one score in seven 2020 games.