Rested 49ers set defensive sights on Titans’ No. 1 draft pick Cam Ward

SANTA CLARA – Keion White lined up on the New England Patriots’ defensive line two months ago and gleaned a strong first impression of the rookie quarterback across from him, Tennessee’s Cam Ward.

Earlier that week, the Titans had fired coach Brian Callahan after a 1-5 start, and even though the Patriots would cruise to a 31-13 win in that Oct. 19 visit to Tennessee, Ward looked “poised” in White’s eyes.

“It’s your rookie year, you’re the No. 1 pick overall, and you have a head coach who they fire. That’s not an easy situation,” White said. “So I’m impressed how he’s handling it and is still confident.”

Ward and the Titans (2-11) are coming to Levi’s Stadium on Sunday to take on the 49ers (9-4), who are refreshed from their bye and riding a three-game win streak.

The 49ers also own the NFL’s fewest sacks (16), and a nice remedy to that could be Ward, who has been sacked 49 times, tied for the NFL’s most with the Raiders’ Geno Smith.

“He’s still a rookie and everything, so he holds onto the ball a little longer than the league average, but I’m still impressed how poised he is,” White said.

Ward indeed ranks near the bottom of the NFL with an average time to throw of 2.93 seconds, according to NextGen Stats.

He is the second straight rookie quarterback to face the 49ers, and another is on deck Dec. 21 if the Indianapolis Colts stick with Riley Leonard after Daniel Jones’ Achilles tear Sunday.

Last time out, the 49ers eventually showed spunk pursuing the Cleveland Browns’ Shedeur Sanders, producing three sacks in a 26-8 win Nov. 30. Sanders, however, averaged 3.37 seconds to throw, the longest time by a Browns quarterback over the last three seasons.

Still, when it comes to facing rookie quarterbacks, White says disguises in the secondary can cause havoc.

“You disguise, make them see different pictures, and actually process the game,” White said. “A lot of times when you have veteran quarterbacks, they see through all that. For a rookie, sometimes it’s an adjustment to the league, because in college, people in the back-end (of a defense) aren’t disguising.”

The 49ers’ pass rush could get a jolt this week if defensive ends Sam Okuayinonu (high-ankle sprain) and Yetur Gross-Matos (hamstring; injured reserve) return. Okuayinonu, who only missed last game, said he has been studying Ward in anticipation of returning this game, though he didn’t participate in Monday’s bonus practice.

The 49ers’ puny sack total is somewhat expected after knee injuries took out defensive ends Nick Bosa (Week 3) and Mykel Williams (Week 9). Leading the team with four sacks apiece are Clelin Ferrell and Bryce Huff, the latter of whom has no sacks the past four games but does have 14 quarterback hits; no one else has more than four quarterback hits, including Ferrell.

When the 49ers pulled away from the Browns, they sacked Sanders three times, twice by Ferrell and once by White.

Like the 49ers, Ward is also coming off a victory in Cleveland, as the Titans won 31-29 win Sunday while he was sacked just once, by Myles Garrett for his NFL-leading 20th sack.

Ward threw two touchdowns for the first time in his career, but he still completed just 50% of his passes (12-of-24) for 117 yards (his fewest since his season-opening debut in Denver). On the season, the former Miami star has completed 59% of his 440 passes, with nine touchdowns and seven interceptions for a 74.9 passer rating that ranks 27th.

A Texas native, he began his collegiate career at Incarnate Word in San Antonio in 2020, transferred to Washington State in 2022, then moved to Miami in 2024. He led the Hurricanes to a 10-2 mark that included a stirring comeback at Cal, and eventually a voluntary halftime exit in the Pop-Tarts Bowl against Iowa State.

EVALUATING QB ROURKE

Quarterback Kurtis Rourke is excited to join practices after having his three-week evaluation window open Monday, having spent his rookie year on the reserve/non-football-injury list while recovering from January’s ACL repair. He was selected in the seventh round at No. 227 overall out of Indiana.

Rourke is still expected to redshirt this season but now he can practice the upcoming month.

“Everything has been mental at this point, trying to remember and learn as much as I can, learn what Kyle (Shanahan) and the staff wants,” Rourke said.

Aside from Brock Purdy and Mac Jones, the 49ers have Adrian Martinez on the practice squad as a No. 3 option this season. Jones is signed through 2026 but his 5-3 record as a fill-in starter could prompt a team to trade for him in March, thus elevating Rourke into a backup role, if healthy.

“It’s been great to be in that room to learn from Mac and Brock, and everyone who’s provided information and help for when this moment comes,” said Rourke, who helped transform Indiana’s program last season after transferring from Ohio.

PLAYOFF-SEED UPGRADE

The 49ers, while idle, moved from the Nos. 7 to 6 seed in the NFC playoff picture with Sunday’s Bears’ loss to the Packers, and a rise to No. 1 remains possible.

“It is motivating, there is an opportunity to be the No. 1 seed,” right tackle Colton McKivitz said. “Obviously we’ll need some help to get there, but if we take care of our business, it just gives us an opportunity to get there, and if it is, another bye week in four weeks sounds pretty awesome. We’ve been there before and enjoyed that.”

McKivitz was duck hunting in Benicia while streaming Sunday’s NFL action on his phone.

“I had my phone on there, ducks were circling and it was great,” said McKivitz, who earlier in the week reached the seven-duck limit with teammates Connor Colby and Drake Nugent.

JENNINGS’ RESPONSE

Wide receiver Jauan Jennings downplayed vague accusations by the Browns’ Shelby Harris about getting too personal with trash talk in that game, a week after Carolina’s Tre’von Moehrig punched him, citing verbal barbs.

“I’m going to keep that to myself of what I said, but I know it wasn’t that bad and he knows that,” Jennings said.

ROSTER MOVES

Linebacker Garret Wallow was claimed off waivers from the Denver Broncos, reuniting him with former TCU teammate Dee Winters.

Guard Ben Bartch was placed on injured reserve due to a foot injury last game; Bartch had an earlier IR stint this season because of an ankle injury.