Not enough credit given to Robert Saleh, or are there too many moving parts to fix on the 49ers defense?
The San Francisco 49ers are projected to either make the playoffs or come close to it based on their 2025 win total.
During a recent interview, star tight end George Kittle spoke with CBS, where he said, “Our offense needs to play at a really high level. We brought back basically everybody, which is pretty fun. And when you have Christian McCaffrey, Brock Purdy, Trent Williams, it makes me pretty excited to play football.”
According to Pro Football Network, the 49ers will finish the season with a top-10 offense:
9) San Francisco 49ers
The San Francisco 49ers were the league’s best offense in this metric back in 2023, but injuries derailed some of what they wanted to do in 2024. Gone is Deebo Samuel Sr., but this remains a Kyle Shanahan-led offense with plenty of depth and now a well-compensated quarterback who may take on more responsibilities when it comes to winning ball games as opposed to not losing them.
Don’t sleep on San Francisco after a down year.
Some might make a big deal about Kittle leaving out the wide receivers. It’s worth noting that he would go on to name himself and Kyle Juszczyk. I think it’s as simple as not knowing who the wideouts will be on any given Sunday. One week it might be Jauan Jennings, the other Ricky Pearsall, while another it could be another youngster.
Somebody will make the most of their opportunities during training camp, but there’s no need to put that kind of pressure on them in June. None of it will matter if Brandon Aiyuk returns and looks like the 2023 version that was one of the best players in the game.
Pro Football Network’s projections weren’t as optimistic for the defensive side of the ball:
26) San Francisco 49ers
Before falling apart in 2024, the Niners had nothing but top-10 finishes in our database. Like the Cowboys, they struggled massively when the opposition got into scoring position, which was quite often due to this defense’s inability to get off the field (24th in third-down conversion rate).
Fred Warner remains the core of this defense, and Bryce Huff was brought over from the Super Bowl champions — there are certainly pieces in place to return this team to average, if not better, on this side of the ball.
This ranking is supposedly weighted. As stated above, it’s difficult to play defense when you can’t get off the field on third down. And those third downs are easier to convert when you’re allowing chunks of five and six on the ground on early downs.
The 49ers will rely on Nick Bosa and three rookies to stop the run, allowing Bryce Huff to make his presence felt on passing downs. It’ll be interesting to see how quickly Robert Saleh improves this unit.
Malik Mustapha starting the season injured won’t make things any easier. The secondary will have its hands full with several new faces, whether veterans or rookies. The pass rush can alleviate some of the pressure, but if San Francisco can’t stop the run, they’ll find themselves around 26th for the second season in a row.