Who do you believe? Kyle’s buddy or Pro Football Focus?
The San Francisco 49ers’ offseason has gone through several waves. First, free agency saw a mass exodus of player mainstays. The NFL draft brought an infusion of talent and youth while filling positional group needs. After eleven picks, the team addressed its poor run defense and bottom-of-the-league special teams unit. Now, the 49ers are in extension mode after signing George Kittle to a record extension, with Fred Warner and Brock Purdy up next before training camp.
Pro Football Focus named the 49ers’ run defense among the most improved units after the NFL draft.
Mason Cameron of PFF wrote: “While the 49ers may not have been widely praised following their draft, they entered with a clear goal: to address a deficiency in quality run defenders, and they attacked it. Of San Francisco’s six defensive picks, five earned PFF run-defense grades above 80.0 in 2024.
After the 49ers’ defensive line ranked 26th in PFF run-defense grade (46.9), Robert Saleh knew the unit needed an overhaul. The team selected Mykel Williams, Alfred Collins, and CJ West to beef up the trenches. Williams and Collins bring the length and versatility to make this front a problem to game-plan against, while West adds mass and energy to disrupt the A-gaps.
Despite some concerns in coverage, the 49ers get a pair of physical nickel defenders in Upton Stout and Marques Sigle, each of whom posted a run-defense grade above 85.0 this past season.”
While PFF was down on the 49ers’ draft class, handing the team a “D” grade, Chris Simms of Pro Football Talk is on the opposite side of the spectrum with his draft take.
“I thought the San Francisco 49ers absolutely crushed the draft,” Simms explained. “They got back to their roots. This is what they were. This is what Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch took over. This is how the team was formed. A bunch of badasses on the defensive side of the ball. Let’s accumulate that, let’s kick the crap out of everybody else.”
“They’ll get over to the offensive side of the ball in a year. But Shanahan’s awesome, he can cover some holes over there with how he coaches.”
Simms went on to praise the 49ers’ defensive picks up front, saying: “Mykel Williams, big badass MOFO off the edge from Georgia to start,” Simms explained. “Alfred Collins, big badass MOFO from Texas in the middle of the defense. Nick Martin, our kind of guy that we talk about with the 49ers – linebacker, a little smaller, kamikaze, throws his body around everywhere. CJ West, a great D-tackle from Indiana, who’s really good, undersized, disrupt-the-play kind of guy.”
Draft grades are fluid as the on-field results will alter any post-draft grade, but Shanahan’s buddy is excited for the 49ers future after the 2025 draft.