Rookies are an important part of the puzzle in 2025, but will they be handed an opportunity?
The 2025 San Francisco 49ers will have a surplus of rookie defensive players, especially across the defensive line. While some rookies will be allowed to sink or swim, others will have to earn their reps. Head coach Kyle Shanahan and General Manager John Lynch took the podium to discuss everything from injury updates to contract negotiations and everything in between.
Shanahan spoke about his philosophy regarding his new rookie class. Pointing to the 2019 49ers as an example of rookies being on the field immediately, with Nick Bosa, Deebo Samuel, and Dre Greenlaw all starting, Shanahan drew parallels between the Super Bowl-bound team and the 2025 team.
“You go back to 19, we’re coming off a four-and-12 season as second pick in the Draft. And that year, we started [Washington Commanders WR] Deebo [Samuel Sr.] was a rookie. We started. Bosa was a rookie. [Denver Broncos LB] Dre Greenlaw started; he was a rookie. You do the same way you’ve done it your whole career. There might be more than one at certain spots, which I think brings more light into it. But we’ve all been around enough to know that, yeah, there’s some growing pains with rookies, but there’s growing pains with everyone. It’s easy to say it’s because of a rookie, but with vets, there’s up and downs. You do that with everyone. You’ve got to understand, though, that rookies are going to struggle harder at first. They aren’t going to figure it out right away. You can’t just bench them as soon as they make a mistake early. That does take reps. No matter what you do, you need a lot of reps to get good at anything, and these guys are going to need those reps. They haven’t had them; they don’t get them in the offseason. They get them through playing football, and that’s why you hope as they get those reps, they’re not catastrophic because we’re all judged on wins and losses. But there’s some ebb and flows in it, and if they’re made of the right stuff, you can overcome those mistakes and they eventually fix them.”
However, Shanahan walked back his comments about rookies immediately playing by saying, “You’re going to play the best player, whether he is young or not.”
“We are in a situation where we have a lot of opportunities for young guys to be our best players. We haven’t had that in a while, probably since ‘19. And that’s why there’s a lot more, there’s more room for young players to make it here and I think we’ve got the right young players to do that. But in any situation, if someone’s struggling and we’re going to put the best team out there possible, we have a chance for young guys to really earn that. But if there’s someone better behind them, we’re judged off wins and losses. You’re going to do what it takes to win that game and then try to get a guy ready for the next week. But you’re always going to put the best guys out there.”
Training camp begins today, and each young player will begin to build their case for playing time and a significant role. Last season was a prime example of why, in some cases, youth should prevail over a veteran. Cough, cough, De’Vondre Campbell and Dee Winters.