Read the full transcript from DC Sean Duggan's media availability on September 17, 2026.
Did Chop Robinson sustain an injury in practice?
Sean Duggan: Respectfully to your question, I'm going to let Coach Hafley answer all injury-related questions.
Do you prepare this week as if you'll have to use other edge rushers?
Sean Duggan: I think your job as a coach is to prepare everybody, right? I mean, you never know what could happen, it's an unpredictable game. So we should always have the mindset that we're trying to get everybody ready to play.
What from the edge guys, Malik, Ferrell, what did you see from them? Obviously, Chop, what did you see from them that you liked and what did you see that needs to be corrected?
Sean Duggan: I think the thing we're talking to our guys a lot about is I felt like we kind of tiptoed a little bit early, especially early in the game. I think they got comfortable as the game went on and our play got better. What I really want to see is guys go play confident, cut it loose a little bit, but within the realm of our defense and within having great fundamentals. I think you can see the physicality and our ability. We can stop the run. We can rush and affect the quarterback. I know, the numbers are what they were, but Kirk was doing a really good job getting the ball out of his hand. But I think affecting the quarterback is more than just stats. It's closing the pocket, it's affecting throws, which I think we did, particularly in the second half. I really just want to see us continue to build on that.
With the defensive line, the interior guys, how much of it, I know there's the one dude, the one-eleventh, but how much of it is learning how to play as a tandem, learning how to play as kind of a unit together?
Sean Duggan: I think that's huge. I think whether you're talking about d-tackles, defensive ends rushing together, linebackers playing together, safeties communicating, I think that's a huge part of defense. You got to know, OK, if I get this type of block, OK, I'm going to play this way. Maybe he plays a different way because he's a different style player than me. If we're rushing, this is how he likes to rush, right? You know, for linebackers, it's, well, he's going to shoot gaps a little bit more than I do, so maybe I need to play off him a little bit. Maybe he's better at this pressure so we can work together in that regard. Safeties, he's better doing this than I am, whereas I'm better and feel more comfortable doing this. So I think playing together regardless of positions I think it's really, really important. As we continue this season, I think that's going to be a big part of our growth.
When you think about the rookies and youngsters who played a lot, I read a stat that you guys might have had the most rookie snaps in week one in at least 20 years in the NFL. How did they do in the areas in general collectively of alignment, assignment, execution?
Sean Duggan: Yeah, I think it's kind of similar to what I was saying when we talked about the d-line. I think early we were a little uneasy, if I'm just going to be honest with you. I think as the game went on, we got better. That's one of the biggest takeaways I had is we improved as the game went on. Guys started playing more confident. You could really – well, I'm in the box – you could see the communication level rising when you watch the film, which makes guys play more comfortable and it leads to anticipating plays. So that was really good to see. I think and that's going to be something we have to continue to stress and get better at. Like we kind of talked about last week, we're never going to use youth as an excuse. We got to continue to coach these guys and they got to continue to prepare and grow, but I think they did a nice job. We got to keep building though for this week.
There are a lot of challenges all over the 49ers are skilled players, but we'll start with Christian McCaffrey. What are the things you need to key in on with him?
Sean Duggan: I think he's obviously a really good back. He's done it for a while and at a really high level. I think first talking about his ability to run the ball, his vision, his ability to stop, start in the hole and accelerate. Extremely shifty and he runs hard. Sometimes you see guys that are super shifty when maybe they don't run as hard and they're a little bit easier to tackle. He does a really good job running behind his pads and has good contact balance. And then his ability out of the backfield to catch the ball. He's just a guy when he gets the ball in his hands you got to be aware. You got to be aware where he is.
On the outside, they add Mike Evans, bring back Deebo Samuel, some physicality in that receiving core. How do you like your guys matching up there?
Sean Duggan: I think it's going to be a challenge. We know they have really good players, and I'm excited to see how our guys do. I think we got to continue to emphasize we're going to play the game in a certain way on defense. We're going to play aggressive. We're going to play with great fundamentals. So I'm excited to see it on Sunday.
With Mike Evans, I realized that they played him a lot in the slot last week. How challenging is that for a 6-foot-4 slot receiver?
Sean Duggan: I have never played receiver, so I can't – I'm sure it has its challenges. What I think they're doing a good job of is they're moving them around. I think when you put somebody in one place the whole time and you kind of, OK, he's going to align here on early downs, maybe he's the X on third down or maybe he's always the slot guy. I think you can kind of craft a plan to kind of take care of that or definitely put resources to where you know he's going to be. When they move guys around it does make it challenging.
So the setup with Hafley on the sideline and you in the box, obviously we've talked about it a lot, but you've actually now done it. Did you learn anything or is there some sort of interesting thing that happened that we might not know?
Sean Duggan: No it's kind of same as it's been. I mean, our communication I thought was really good. I thought the communication with the whole defensive staff was really good. Sure, there's things we need to get better at, and we will. When it comes to the communication or adjustments, stuff like that, there's always room to grow and we're always going to talk about that as a staff, where we can improve, where we can help our players improve. But I thought for the first game it was pretty clean.
About how many defensive coaches are allowed to talk during when the defense has got it going?
Sean Duggan: When Haf's giving the call, you want to let him call. Let him make the call, let him get it to the mic and kind of have quiet. As far as when that's not happening, I think communication is always good. If a guy has an idea and it really doesn't matter who it comes from, if it's a good idea, we're going to use it.
With Chris (Johnson) specifically, how did you see him fight through as Cousins obviously was targeting him? And what kind of lesson is that for him just as a rookie, in Week 1, this is what it's like when you play veteran quarterback?
Sean Duggan: I think really it's a lesson for all of our guys. You got to challenge guys, you got to trust your training. You could say he targeted Chris, I think he put the ball where we allowed him to and maybe we weren't clean on all those calls or we could have been better, whether it's technique or execution of a call. But one thing I did like about him, and you can see it this week in practice, is he's responded. He hasn't gone in the tank. He's a confident player who knows he's good, knows he has ability. So that's been good to see, especially at DB where everyone knows who the ball gets caught on. They don't know the ins and outs of the call, or maybe this guy should have been here, or maybe his leverage is this because of this in the call, they just go, 'oh, he caught the pass.' I think Chris has done a really good job and he's a really good player. He's going to continue to get better as this year goes.
Starting Chris and Jason and then using JuJu on the outside and the nickel. How close was it to having JuJu be part of that first two, was it a tough decision?
Sean Duggan: I look at it as we have three starting caliber players and they're going to compete every single day we're out here, just like the rest of the guys on our defense.
I think a similar thing at safety too, starting with Zayne and Michael, rotating Dante, viewing all three as a starter.
Sean Duggan: Yep, it's always a competition.
On the safety situation, is it package based or was it timing based?
Sean Duggan: To be honest, a little bit of both. There's certain. certain times we want certain guys in, whether that's based on the call or how the game's going, or maybe that's the plan is, hey, this series, these guys are up. So to answer your question, honestly, it's a little bit of both.
