…..and then, there were 53.
Okay. Now let’s see what we’ve got here.
Your San Francisco 49ers are about to embark on what they are counting on as a revival season. The thinking now is last year’s bottom dwelling finish was merely a hiccup on the road to Super Bowl glory this year. And, good news! It also means the 2025 49ers have the easiest schedule in the entire NFL. If we only didn’t have to play the games.
Last year seemed to be doomed from the moment Kyle Shanahan conducted the first team sing-a-long of Kumbaya. Preseason camp was never in sync what with contract disputes and injuries mounting to the point that Stanford Hospital was offering “twofers”.
Christian McCaffrey made only a cameo appearance before tearing up one of the only parts of his body that had not been previously torn up. Then Brandon Aiyuk — he of contract holdout fame — was out for the season about 15 minutes after actually looking like he’d ever played the game before. The other contract holdout, Trent Williams, hardly played and when he did he did so on one leg (and was still one of the best in the league at his position).
The kicker couldn’t kick, the quarterback couldn’t get the time he needed to throw, the receivers couldn’t catch and the blockers couldn’t block. And that was only on offense.
On defense, opposing teams were running through them like a bull avoiding a red cape. And special teams? Nothing special.
Beyond that, it was a heck of a year.
Ahhh but, there’s a new dawn in Ninerland. It seems that last year wasn’t armageddon at all. The world didn’t actually end. The prophets were right. “The only thing that’s the end of the world, is the end of the world,” Barack Obama once offered. And guess what? The 49er brass couldn’t help but think, “you know, he’s right.”
So they went back to the office, tried to figure out what went wrong, and promptly lopped the heads off of almost one-third of the roster.
Football is not a kind game.
“Build through the draft” is the acknowledged way to keep a roster fresh in today’s NFL. And, for the first time since the Trey Lance drafting debacle, the team had a passel of picks in the league’s annual flesh lottery.
They also reached out and brought in eight free agents including Mac Jones, a former first-round draft pick, as the backup quarterback, and a few other hands who can contribute.
In addition, when the team threw open the doors to training camp this year, 11 fresh new faces that the Niners took a fancy to in the draft walked in, along with a handful of non-drafted free agents.
This time there wasn’t a hearty rendition of Kumbaya, this time the players had to wear tags that began with “Hello, my name is….”
It was a new beginning for a franchise that got beat up last year. This time it was all about football. No holdouts, take care of banged up bodies, no pre-season injuries, OTA’s and mini-camps seem to show some talent in the eleven new draftees. Here we go.
Day one: Hold out (or hold IN as it were). Jauan Jennings, who inherited the WR1 position with the continued absence of Aiyuk decided he was worth much more than the previous $6-mil or so that he was being paid. OK, OK, at least we don’t have injuries mounting.
Until week two. Then it was as if running backs and wide receivers were clay pigeons in a skeet shooting competition. Suddenly there wasn’t a wide receiver room, it was a wide receiver booth. Ricky Pearsall was now WR1, and it was so bad the coach had to ask for volunteers to be WR2.
The running back room wasn’t any better. McCaffrey was fine, but was wrapped in sponge rubber and not allowed to so much as shave for fear of aggravating a just-mended knee. Two others are on season ending IR, and two who are expected to see some time are currently injured and unavailable. A late trade brought a backup running back from Washington to act as Sancho Ponza to CMC.
As to the receiving corps, Demarcus Robinson will miss the first three games on a league suspension, talented rookie Jordan Watkins is nursing a high-ankle sprain, Jacob Cowling is six weeks away with a hammy, Aiyuk is on the PUP list (no, he’s not looking to get adopted), and Jennings is dealing with both the contract issue and a calf injury that has almost become a full blown cow.
The command came down from on high, “Get me a receiver who’s first name ends in two Y’s.” So Skyy Moore was acquired and so, too, was Marques Valdez-Scantling, whose NFL career covers eight seasons and five different teams. Even Brock Purdy said, “Who?”
Of the 11 drafted rookies, 10 are on the 53-man roster. At least a half-dozen I think, will be contributors. If only they weren’t — wait for it — HURT!
The bottom line is this: Whereas the 2024 version of these San Francisco 49ers started bad and got worse, I honestly believe that this year’s version could conceivably start bad — but get a lot better.
I’m a Brock Purdy guy. Yes, he’s a system quarterback. And yes, he’s in the right system. What he does is make quick reads and in this league that’s every bit as important as a cannon arm.
I believe that, once healthy, at least four of the drafted rookies will have an impact on what has been a woeful defense. And having Robert Saleh back as defensive coordinator is a huge asset.
I’m not going to tell you this team wins the Super Bowl, or even beats Seattle in week one. But I will say that it won’t be the end of the world part two.
As another wag once said, “maybe yesterday the world was having a bad hair day.”
Barry Tompkins is a 40-year network television sportscaster and a San Francisco native. Email him at barrytompkins1@gmail.com.