Jan. 23, 2026, 7:45 p.m. PT

While there are still three games left to be played in the 2025 NFL season, the San Francisco 49ers have officially entered their offseason after falling to the Seattle Seahawks 41-6 in the divisional round.

San Francisco’s season isn’t overly disappointing, as they overcame changes to their coaching staff and roster over the offseason as well as injuries to several key players throughout the year.

Winning 12 games, defeating the defending Super Bowl champions and making it to the divisional round of the playoffs are all great accomplishments, but Kyle Shanahan and co. are aiming higher.

Speaking with KNBR’s Adam Copeland and Derek Papa former 49ers quarterback Steve Young detailed what the team needs to do improve their offense in 2026, and it starts with the big guys up front.

“Well, every quarterback needs an offensive line, and they’ve got to be top ten,” Young said. “And I mean, with Trent [Williams] in the game, are they top ten?  And I’d say it comes and goes. They had some great games this year, but we need to get back to the 2019 offensive line, where we’re the best in the league, top three. That’s when, you know, that’s when Jimmy Garoppolo, who can’t get a job today, he’s in the Super Bowl, right? You need offensive linemen, and that’s why make sure that that’s always… Any quarterback that’s not supported by that… For years, you know, I complained where Andrew Luck was just trying to play Hall-of-Fame ball behind an offensive line that wasn’t protecting him. You need that.

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“And Trent, being 38 years old, it’s not fair to say, oh, he’s going to be the rock of our offensive line. And so I think we’ve got the makings of a great offensive line. Let’s make sure we continue to [build it]…  And to me, that’s first [priority].”

San Francisco has some decisions to make on the offensive line this year as starting left guard Ben Bartch and backup left guard Spencer Burford are both free agents this offseason while Williams and starting center Jake Brendel are both entering the final years of their deals.

The 49ers need to make some moves to address the short and long-term needs in front of Purdy and the running backs.

Speaking of the backs, Young also pointed out the need to upgrade the weapons that Purdy has around him.

“I mean, if quarterback is the position in the NFL that needs to be prioritized, then the offensive line needs to be the second. And then you need speed,” Young said. “We don’t need speed as much as other squads because we have a lot of tactics. But it can’t be the Christian McCaffrey show. We know that. That’s asking too much of Christian. Way too much of Christian. And I think it affects Christian’s running game. I don’t think we get the full measure of Christian as a runner when he has to do six other things.

“And so we’ve got to make sure that we develop threats out of the locker room when they come warming up that that defense has been talking about since the last Wednesday. Like, oh, watch out for [him] Oh, crap. He’s bigger than I thought. Oh, man, he’s faster than I [thought]. You know what I mean? I mean, that’s how the 49ers were for years when we were, you know, for the dynasty years, the 80s, 90s, we were up 10-0 before we warmed up because they’d been talking about us for five days. You know, here comes Jerry Rice, and Jerry Rice walks up. ‘Oh, damn, he looks faster than I thought. Oh, John Taylor. Holy crap. These guys are coming out of nowhere.’

“And that’s what we had in 2023 when we warmed up, right? We came out of the tunnel in 2023. It’s like every guy is like, ‘Oh, crap.’ We’ve got to get back to that.

In 2023, the 49ers stepped off the bus with McCaffrey, Deebo Samuel, Brandon Aiyuk, George Kittle and Jauan Jennings as their top weapons. This year’s roster lacked the talent needed to really take the offense to the next level.

Whether it’s in a trade, free agency or the draft, San Francisco should try to get better players to get the most out of both Purdy and McCaffrey.

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