SANTA CLARA — D.J. Reed had an impressive start in the 49ers' 20-16 win over the Broncos on Sunday.
The 49ers rookie defensive back registered 10 solo tackles and two assists. Three of Reed's tackles were for a loss, including his sack of Denver quarterback Case Keenum that resulted in a forced fumble and a five-yard loss. He was on the field for 65-of-74 total defensive snaps (87.8 percent) and also played 12 snaps on special teams.
Reed was not the only first-year player on the field for San Francisco. He played alongside fellow rookies linebacker Fred Warner and safety Marcell Harris on defense.
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SIGN UP HERE Coach Kyle Shanahan spoke about how the younger players fared in the victory.
“I thought they played hard and with passion,” Shanahan said. “We’ll watch the tape and we’ll be hard on them. We’ll watch everything.
“But I thought our guys came out today. And I just really wanted them to have fun playing football, and the only way you have fun is if you play with some passion and you play together.
“When I’m looking up and just the energy you feel, I thought our guys really enjoyed the day. I know I enjoyed the first half a lot more than the second half, but I enjoyed the ending. I like how hard the guys played and very physical it seemed like.”
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Veteran cornerback Richard Sherman was also impressed with the play of fellow defensive backs Reed and Harris.
“They played fearless,” Sherman said. “They played fearless today. They played with no hesitation. They didn’t second guess themselves, they didn’t think about anything. They just played fast and made tackles. They made some phenomenal one-on-one tackles in crucial spots in the ball game.”
Reed’s performance is even more impressive, considering he had very little prior experience playing nickel. He played mostly outside corner in college and didn’t blitz very often. He remarked that both Sherman and his coaches told him to keep it simple and play fast.
“Richard told me just to play fast yesterday,” Reed said, “He told me ‘If you mess up, you mess up. You’re going to mess up at least twice. Just go out there and play. You’re really good when you just play.’ So that’s just what I did.”
Reed has also been hampered with the task of learning more than one position as a rookie. With several injuries in the secondary -- Jimmie Ward and Adrain Colbert going on injured reserve and Jaquiski Tartt out multiple games with a shoulder stinger -- Reed has been asked to fill in.
“When you know too much it can be kind of a bad thing,” Reed said, “because you kind of just want to know what you’re doing. But in the long run, I kind of feel like it’s a good thing and things are going to eventually start to slow down for me.”
Reed was so focused on his role in the game that he didn’t even realize that the defense impressively held Broncos running back Phillip Lindsey to only 30 yards on the ground.
“Wow, It was 30?” Reed said. “Wow. He’s a good back. We were watching a lot of film on him. Our goal was to not let him get bounces outside and contain him. Because once he bounces with the ball he’s very hard to tackle and bring down. Wow. I didn’t know we kept him at 30 yards. That’s crazy.”
Reed is known for being his own toughest critic. He will take this performance and use it to carry him through the remainder of this season and onto to next.
"Just got to build on it,” Reed said. “Obviously celebrate the win today, because it feels good winning. But the next day, watch the film and it’s back to work. Just have to keep preparing and getting better.”