When a team with high expectations founders like the San Francisco 49ers did last season, it ramps up the pressure inside the team facility.

San Francisco has been a team making deep playoff runs almost every year since 2019, but they’ve yet to get over the hump. Now they’re at a crossroads where the old Super Bowl window is shut. If a new one opens it will be on the strength of an emerging core of young players.

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With the 49ers sitting at an organizational inflection point, we took a look at the members of the team under the most pressure in the 2025 regular season:

QB Brock Purdy

There’s always at least a little pressure on an NFL starting quarterback. For Purdy his high-level play out of the gate immediately put a spotlight on him and set an exceedingly high expectation early in his career. He backed it up in 2023, but regressed some last season before signing a five-year extension worth $265 million. It’s clear San Francisco is adjusting their team-building strategy now that they have a QB making money near the top of the market. More of the onus now shifts to Purdy to be a rising tide that raises all boats. If he struggles to make up the ground he lost last year and take another step forward beyond that, it puts a real question mark over his long-term viability as a franchise QB.

DE Nick Bosa

A retooled defensive line is one of the most interesting aspects of the 49ers’ roster this season. While some uncertainty remains because of the influx of youth, there’s no uncertainty about Bosa as one of the NFL’s premier pass rushers. However, a young group around Bosa may take a little time to develop. In that stage of the season, Bosa has to be dominant at a Defensive Player of the Year level. He’s capable of taking over games. The 49ers just need him to do it with more frequency until pass rush reinforcements like Mykel Williams and Bryce Huff can get their legs under them in the 49ers’ defense.

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WR Ricky Pearsall

The 49ers injury situation at receiver pulled the 2024 first-round pick further into the spotlight this season where he figures to be the team’s No. 1 option to begin the year. Pearsall flashed enough upside in a tumultuous rookie season to provide some optimism about his ability to shoulder that workload. That’s what the 49ers are hoping for after selecting him No. 31 overall in last year’s draft. He is supposed to be a major piece of their receiving corps moving forward and if he can’t find his footing with the opportunities he’s going to get this season it’ll cast major doubt about his place in the next core of young players for San Francisco.

HC Kyle Shanahan

There’s a loud contingent of the 49ers fan base that has wanted Shanahan fired since the 2019 Super Bowl loss. That noise has only grown as San Francisco has fallen short of its sixth Lombardi Trophy. Missing the playoffs last season puts a significant spotlight on Shanahan as he tries to rebuild the 49ers on the fly after an ultra-successful five-year run. If they struggle again this season, Shanahan’s seat gets hot in 2026 and there’s a chance he’s coaching for his job. If they get back to the playoffs and the trajectory is trending back upward, he’ll maintain his excellent job security.

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This article originally appeared on Niners Wire: 49ers roster: 4 people under heavy pressure in 2025 regular season