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<\/a><\/p>\nINDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA – FEBRUARY 28: Upton Stout #DB30 of Western Kentucky participates in the vertical jump during the NFL Scouting Combine at Lucas Oil Stadium on February 28, 2025 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Brooke Sutton\/Getty Images) Getty Images<\/p>\n
Nickel corners have a ripple effect on the entire defense. Just look at the last two rosters that made the Super Bowl: 2019 had K\u2019Wuan Williams, and 2023 had Deommodore Lenoir playing their asses off. Nickels are obviously critical for covering the slot receiver, but less obvious is their impact on the defensive line. Take it from Robert Saleh, speaking to The Athletic in 2019<\/a>:<\/p>\n \u201cThe whole group of D-linemen, in order for them to be maximized, we have to get offenses to account for the safeties, the nickels, the backers,\u201d Saleh said of K\u2019Waun Williams\u2019 blitzing duties Thursday. \u201cWhen they do, it just frees up. Now you\u2019re just creating 1-on-1s for those guys and when you can do that, that group is pretty talented. It\u2019s just a cat-and-mouse game of making sure that teams play us honest.\u201d <\/p>\n Upton Stout\u2019s personal trajectory will determine the team\u2019s trajectory, if it could come close to matching 2019 or 2023. He could be the reason that CJ Stroud, Bryce Young, Caleb Williams, Michael Penix Jr, and Cam Ward all play like the worst versions of themselves\u2026 or the reason that Russ Wilson, Daniel Jones, Kyler Murray, and Sam Darnold find their groove a little too easily. I will admit that I am biased. I\u2019m inclined to root for Upton Stout because I\u2019m massively obsessed with stout beers. I don\u2019t mean Guinness \u2013 I mean the heavy bourbon-barrel-aged 15%ers that overwhelm the senses and raise your blood sugar. You can only drink a couple ounces at a time, which makes it perfect for football. Football is a series of moments that demand extreme attention, interspersed with 20 seconds of nonsense. In between snaps, you can actually take the beer in and let it linger and breathe and process what you just tasted. For this season preview, I\u2019ll go game-by-game and look at the relevant match-ups while offering my recommendation on the best stout-focused brewery from each opponent\u2019s area. I\u2019m assuming perfect health (it\u2019s simply impossible to predict injuries on either side). Several of the breweries linked I\u2019ve had many times, and for some of the other recs I had to look through Reddit, Untappd, my favorite breweries\u2019 Instagram followings, and ask people. If I hadn\u2019t had it yet, then I absolutely would get it if I found myself in the opposing team\u2019s town. Without further ado, here\u2019s the 49ers 2025 Season explained through Stout: But they have a glaring weakness that the 49ers offense is well-equipped to exploit: their linebackers. They won\u2019t be able to cover Kittle on middle-of-the-field throws and they won\u2019t be able to stop the 49ers rushing. Unlike the Seattle game, this is a game where I expect the offense to step up and take control of the game, no matter what happens on the other side of the ball. Week 6 – @ Tampa Bay. Win. Angry Chair. Week 7 – Atlanta. Win. Monday Night<\/a> and Variant<\/a>. Week 8 – @Houston. Loss. Brash<\/a> and Ingenious<\/a>. Week 9 – @ New York Giants. Win. Finback<\/a>. Week 10 – Los Angeles Rams. Win. Side Project<\/a>. Week 11 – @ Arizona. Win. OHSO Brewing<\/a>. Week 13 – Cleveland Browns. Win. Jackie O\u2019<\/a>s and Private Press<\/a>. Week 15 – Tennessee Titans. Loss. Southern Grist<\/a>. Week 16 – Colts. Win. Deviate Brewing<\/a>. Week 17 – Chicago. Loss. Goose Island<\/a> and Revolution<\/a>. Week 18 – Seahawks. Win. Fremont Brewing<\/a>.
It\u2019s a tall order for a man who would otherwise have to lie about his height on the dating apps. Stout\u2019s performance in training camp drew rave reviews<\/a>, and now we\u2019ll finally get to see what Robert Saleh and Kyle Shanahan saw this past summer. For such a young guy, he\u2019ll have massive responsibilities every week. And every week, no matter how well he plays that day, I\u2019ll be trying to gauge how much better he\u2019s playing relative to his last game. His development could determine if we can make any kind of noise in the playoffs against the Real Teams. I\u2019ll be in the barrel watching Stout age.<\/p>\n
You\u2019ll need every second, because the best stouts are ferocious. They\u2019re like short guys in the NFL. A shorter guy in the NFL has to be maxed out at every possible trait: speed, strength, coordination, intelligence, that dawg in him. A proper stout needs to burst with flavor, texture, and barrel in every sip, simply because you\u2019re sipping less of it. If it\u2019s not coating your tongue, it\u2019s not fighting for every yard and playing through the whistle. If it\u2019s too sweet and syrupy, then it needs the bourbon or cognac barrel-aged edge to cut through the decadence.
Stouts aren\u2019t for everyone. Most people go for something lighter, more conventional, more predictable\u2026 the safe route. They\u2019re missing out on the overlooked gems of the beer world. They\u2019re missing out on the Upton Stouts.<\/p>\n
Week 1 – @ Seattle. Win. Great Notion<\/a>.
Great Notion is much like Sam Darnold in that it\u2019s a Seattle-based brewery with ties to the Bay. We saw Sam with our own eyes when he backed up Brock Purdy \u2013 in fact, you could have watched one of his games from Great Notion\u2019s Berkeley location.
Seattle will be a great gut-check after the Good Vibes Summer<\/a>. A win will be a big proof-of-concept that Robert Saleh\u2019s youth movement has what it takes to take advantage against a vulnerable QB playing behind a mediocre offensive line.
The game will be simple: get pressure on Sam Darnold early, and he\u2019ll start throwing picks. Give him too much time, however, and he\u2019ll start cooking. Cooper Kupp, washed as he is, will try every old-head trick in the book on Upton Stout. On the other side of the ball, Ricky Pearsall will have his hands full going against Tariq Woolen. This Mike McDonald-led defense looks good enough to limit an Aiyuk-less offense, so off jump, the defense needs to step up.
Beating the Seahawks on the road to start the season will demand competency and disruption. It\u2019ll take minimal-mistake-made football to keep Darnold in check when he\u2019s cooking. At the same time, the big plays will be there for the taking because Darnold can get rattled more than most. If they lose, they\u2019ll get a chance to bounce back against the Saints the following week, which will have a significantly worse defense and similarly mediocre offensive line.
Week 2 – @ New Orleans. Win. Abita<\/a> and Parish<\/a>.
At first glance, this seems like one of the easiest games on the schedule. Rookie QB, rebuilding roster, first-year head coach. I\u2019m comfortable predicting a dominant win, but I\u2019m not sleeping on NO\u2019s offensive line. Their two tackles, Taliese Fuaga and Kelvin Banks Jr, are quite talented. Their interior looks a little more vulnerable, as Trevor Penning and Cesar Ruiz are two run-mauling first-rounders that have yet to meet expectations as pass-blockers.
It\u2019ll be a non-trivial test for the 49ers DTs, especially against the run. Mykel Williams and Alfred Collins will be counted on in this game, and if they do their jobs, Fred Warner and Dee Winters can take care of business to silence Alvin and the chipmunks. Beyond the win, this\u2019ll be an important learning experience for all the young guys before things get even realer at home the following week.
Week 3 – Arizona. Win. Wren House<\/a>.
Mobile quarterbacks are the bane of this team\u2019s existence, and this is the first true dual-threat QB they\u2019ll be facing. Kyler Murray\u2019s in a make-or-break year, so he\u2019ll be playing with something to prove. Arizona has a three-headed offensive monster in Marvin Harrison Jr, Trey McBride, and James Conner while their steady offensive line has stayed stable. On defense, they\u2019ve reunited edge rusher Josh Sweat with head coach Jonathan Gannon while drafting a bunch of young talent. Walter Nolan and Will Johnson may or may not have been my draft crushes this past cycle.<\/p>\n
The Cardinals are good enough to maybe win the AFC South, but they play in the NFC West. Speaking of the AFC South\u2026
Week 4 – Jacksonville. Win. Aardwolf<\/a> and Ink Factory<\/a>.
On paper, the Jaguars seem intimidating. With new management, they\u2019re nothing to Baalke at\u2026. Liem Cohen is in charge now. Brian Thomas Jr, Travis Hunter, and Trevor Lawrence are some of the most physically talented dudes in the NFL. Travon Walker and Josh Hines-Allen screaming off the edge will be a steeper hill for Colton McKivitz to climb<\/a> than any of the pass-rushing duos from the previous three games.
That\u2019s all fine and dandy, but their offensive line is still horrendous. Nick Bosa and his boy band will play the hits on Trevor Lawrence, who sucks under pressure<\/a>. Meanwhile, the Jags\u2019 interior d-line and secondary isn\u2019t scaring anyone, certainly not a good Christian offense like the 49ers. Demarcus Robinson will be back for this game, which will open up the 49ers\u2019 offense even more. The 49ers should win this one, despite some late scares from the Jags receivers getting loose.
Week 5 – @ LA Rams. Loss. Bottle Logic<\/a>.
Anaheim is home to the happiest place on Earth: Bottle Logic Brewing. One of the best breweries in the nation, Bottle Logic, decides what stouts to brew by using the randomizer manatees from South Park. Bananas Foster? Mole? Cigar and leather? They\u2019ll say some crazy flavor, you\u2019ll roll your eyes, and then you\u2019ll take a sip and do a double-take because they called their own shot.
The Rams have been calling their own shot all offseason. Not only are Matt Stafford and his blindside protector, Alaric Jackson, both healthy again\u2026. the Rams also signed Davonte Adams, Poona Ford, and Nate Landman. The latter two are less talked about than Adams, but DT Ford and LB Landman alleviate two of the Rams\u2019 biggest weaknesses: run defense and their linebacker unit.
This is the first contender-level team the 49ers are playing this season, and unless Stafford\u2019s back starts acting up, I would be glad to split the season series with LA. Thankfully, their schedule is a lot easier than the Rams. They can still finish with a better record and win the division, but I would not want to face the Rams in the playoffs.
Without a fully healthy Aiyuk and with the youngsters still finding their footing, I see this as the first loss of the season. The short week doesn\u2019t help, but the following mini-bye will be welcomed. The elder millennials on offense will need the rest, because they have a couple of good-offense\/bad-defense games coming up.<\/p>\n
<\/a>While the 49ers lick their chops from the first loss of the season, Tampa Bay\u2019s offense will be coming in hot. They have a helluva o-line, great receivers, a young buck running the ball, and a vengeful Baker Mayfield. All that won\u2019t be enough to make up for their holes on defense.
Tampa Bay fans will argue that their team was injured last year – they didn\u2019t have their top three WRs when we beat them last year – but even with Haason Reddick coming on board, they still don\u2019t have the juice to really threaten the 49ers offense. There\u2019s been some hype around LB SirVocea Dennis coming back and a ton of young additions to their secondary, but by this point, I think the 49ers will be ROLLING on offense. Not to mention that Brandon Aiyuk is projected to return right around here. Much like the Arizona game, I think the offense will handle business.<\/p>\n
The Falcons lost their best offensive lineman, tackle Kaleb McGary, to season-ending IR already. Their defensive line, especially the interior, was terrible last year, with little done to improve it. Our run game should Puni-sh them while our pass rush should make it hard on Michael Penix Jr. Their skill players are no joke, but not even Bijan Robinson and Drake London will be enough to keep pace with an in-rhythm 49ers offense.<\/p>\n
Eight weeks in, this two-game road trip will be a barometer for the defensive rookies\u2019 progress.
When I say that the \u201cdefensive line rookies need to be developing on or ahead of schedule\u201d, this is the game where the Williams\/Collins\/West trio needs to be way ahead of schedule in order to give us a chance. CJ Stroud, newly empowered to change plays at the line of scrimmage<\/a>, is the best dual-threat QB the team will face all year. His offensive line ranked dead-last in 2024, but with some new players and coaches, I\u2019m not counting on them staying so bad.
If the rookies are outperforming expectations, 49ers win. Mykel Williams, CJ West, and Alfred Collins need to have improved significantly as pass-rushers by this point, while Upton Stout better be ready for the slot magician Christian Kirk for the 49ers to win this game.
If the rookies are merely meeting expectations, 49ers lose. As much as I believe in the 49ers offense, this Texans defense is loaded. DeMeco Ryans will be ready for Shanahan\u2019s tricks. 6-2 ain\u2019t a bad place to be, but the national media will call us frauds and deride us as stat padders. It\u2019ll be lit.<\/p>\n
Brooklyn is home to one of the finest barrel-aging programs in the entire country. Finback Brewing specializes in a type of stouts that has very little added ingredients. Its flavor from the sheer amount of time it spends (upwards of 3-5 years) in well-aged high-quality bourbon barrels. It\u2019s simple in theory but very hard in practice. When executed well, there\u2019s nothing like it.
The 49ers will need to draw inspiration from Finback when they gameplan against the New York Giants. The Giants boast an overwhelmingly talented defensive line, but the rest of their defense is bad at everything else. All the 49ers need to do is establish the ground game and connect on quick, surgical, short-field passes. Simple, not easy, but exactly what a veteran offense that prides itself on team-blocking should excel at.
The rookies on defense, on the other hand, will be under a microscope this game. After half a season in the NFL, are these young guys cutting down on their mistakes? The Giants will have their star left tackle, Andrew Thomas, back for this game to protect either Russell Wilson or Jaxson Dart. Wilson, speaking of, has never played with a receiver as good as Malik Nabers. Their work will be cut out for them.
The occasional missed tackle or coverage bust in week 2 against the Saints won\u2019t fly at this point in the season. There are three divisional games and three talented young quarterbacks left on the schedule. The opening game against Seattle demanded the 49ers to play both competently AND opportunistically. The Giants will be a gut check on whether they can just play competently against the talented offenses. We know the rookies are talented, but can they nail the fundamentals at a critical point in the season?<\/p>\n
It feels like several lifetimes ago, but the Rams used to play in St. Louis. Drive fifteen minutes from their old stadium and you\u2019ll happen upon one of the most exclusive and hard-to-get stout breweries on the planet. Side Project Brewing doesn\u2019t distribute much outside its taprooms, so stout freaks like me will fly from all over the world to St Louis just for this one brewery. Non-stout people (my concerned friends and family) are a little shocked at all the time, money, and effort it takes to just drink beer\u2026 but one sip and they completely get it.
By this point in the season, the 49ers\u2019 expensive and exhausting Brandon Aiyuk should be fully back online and proving his value. I wasn\u2019t comfortable predicting a win against the Rams without the best version of Aiyuk playing. But in this first home game back from the road trip, I see a 49ers offense in midseason form getting their lick back.<\/p>\n
Much like Kyler Murray sipping a stout, I\u2019ll keep this short and sweet. Their Arizona linebackers are still a massive hole for their defense, and the 49ers offense will be even more confident attacking the middle of the field. 9-2 with a healthy dose of standings-watching.
Week 12 – Carolina. Win. Burial Brewing<\/a>.
For this one, I won\u2019t be harping on the defensive rookies as much. The Panthers have an underrated o-line, an ascending Bryce Young, and got better at every skill position. Their defense is a different story. They were historically bad last year and haven\u2019t made dramatic enough upgrades. Outside of Derrick Brown and Jaycee Horn, they have an unproven mix of rookies and new free-agent signings. Even if Tet McMillan goes off, this is the type of game where a healthy 49ers offense should be making its money.<\/p>\n
A few hours from Cleveland is Jackie O\u2019s Brewery. Jackie O\u2019s is the Jed York of stout breweries: an Ohio-based institution that ended up having quite the impact on the Bay Area.
Jackie O\u2019s is a well-respected brewery on its own with a sizable distribution. Their former long-time head brewer, Brad Clark, moved to the Bay Area after falling in love with a lady from the Bay Area, where he started his own brewery called Private Press. I was fortunate enough to attend a private tasting at Toronado (one of San Francisco\u2019s historic beer bars)<\/a>, where for 100 bucks, they gave you eight 5-oz pours of his beers while he got up on stage and told us the backstory and brewing process behind each beer.
He broke down each beer like Kyle Shanahan going over film, with such a level of detail, nuance, and creativity toward something you didn\u2019t think could even be that creative. He was obsessed with craft beer since before he could legally drink, so he started brewing with a fake ID. He worked his way up at Jackie O\u2019s to lead the brewing team, and during his time there, Jackie O\u2019s expanded significantly. He stopped spending as much time brewing beer and started spending a lot more time managing staff and processes. His budding romance started getting serious so he had to make a choice: leave Ohio and start from scratch.
Building this new brewing project from the ground up, he wanted total Shanahan-esque control over every detail in the brewing process. This meant that he\u2019d have to put a hard cap on the volume of beer he could brew, so he created a subscription program. Private Press became the stuff of legend, quickly racking up a years-long waiting list. Thankfully, he recently opened a taproom in Santa Cruz, so you can try Private Press on draft or as an in-house bottle. If you go, raise a glass to Ohio, which has given us both Brad Clark and Jed York.
I\u2019ve been talking more about a Bay Area brewery than the Ohio brewery, because this game should reveal more about the Niners than anything else. It\u2019s a look inward and take-care-of-business game. You can\u2019t fall asleep on Myles Garrett and Denzel Ward, but the Browns aren\u2019t good enough to keep up with the 49ers. Their linebackers are especially bad with Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah lost for the season, their offense is a mess, and they don\u2019t even know which quarterback will be playing.
The 49ers will go into the bye at 11-2, which, dare I say, might work against them.<\/p>\n
Trap game!
Coming off a bye, I think the 49ers will fall asleep on the Titans. They don\u2019t seem very good on paper, but Cam Ward only needs average play out of his revamped offensive line (LT Dan Moore Jr and G Kevin Zeitler) to do some damage. On defense, their interior defensive line of Jeffrey Simmons, T\u2019Vondre Sweat, and Sebastian Jones-Day can make life hell for our offense. L\u2019Jarius Sneed helms a talented secondary, with linebacker and edge rusher being the main question mark.
Should the 49ers lose this game? Absolutely not. Will they lose this game? I think so. The bye week, the 11-2 record from beating up on bad teams, and Cam Ward being talented enough doesn\u2019t give me hope. This will not be a game to watch while on a date, lest they see you screaming at these men that don\u2019t know you exist.<\/p>\n
If the Titans game was a wake-up call, then the Colts game will be the cup of coffee. That\u2019s the energizing effect of getting to play against Daniel Jones, whose offensive line is looking vulnerable on the right side. Center Tanor Bartoloni is inexperienced, RG Matt Goncalves is bad at pass protection, and RT Braden Smith is talented but unreliable. While Nick Bosa and the other veterans will have their hands full, this is where Mykel Williams, CJ West, and Alfred Collins could leave their marks on the game.
The Colts\u2019 defense has a new coordinator (hence why we have Gus Bradley), but I don\u2019t see them rising to some elite level. The 49ers should get to 12-3 on Monday Night Football, with the next two games being the difference between winning the division or trying to jam into a crowded wild card race.<\/p>\n
Forget Ben Johnson, their abundance of weapons, and Caleb Williams. Their interior offensive line was majorly upgraded with Joe Thuney, Jonah Jackson, and Drew Dalman (my free agency crush for the 49ers). This offense will give teams headaches.
Dennis Allen will be in charge of a decent defense that added Grady Jarrett and Dayo Odeyingbo while returning Andrew Billings and Gervon Dexter. They have a strong d-line, a solid back seven, and an aggressive blitzing coordinator. They\u2019ll come into this game with battle scars from playing in the NFC North (and the Eagles, Ravens, and Commanders).
I would love to be proven wrong. But I think we leave Sunday Night Football with a 12-4 record and our backs against the wall.<\/p>\n
The Bears\u2019 offensive line, this Seattle team is not. Matt Stafford, Sam Darnold is not. Malik Nabers\/Nico Collins, JSN is not.
I\u2019ll never sleep on Seattle, but I\u2019m making this pick with both eyes wide open. Does 13-4 win us the division or at least get us in the wild card? I can\u2019t tell you that right now, but I can tell you that Seattle is still several OL pieces away from being as threatening as the Rams, which might very well be the 49ers\u2019 next opponent, given that the Rams are facing the Eagles, Ravens, and Lions and could finish as the wild card.
One of the biggest risks in making stouts is that you pour your freshly made beer base into an old barrel, and then you have to wait a very long time until you know what you even have. You can de-risk it by getting as good of a barrel as possible, and you can taste your stout base\u2019s potential before pouring it in, but you could try it a while later and find that you\u2019ve been making a spoilt stout.
It can go the other way \u2014 sometimes the latent characteristics of the barrel can produce some unexpected tasting notes. An oak-y old bourbon can bring out some vanilla in the stout base, and the grizzled veterans on the team might bring the best out of these talented young men<\/a>.
The 49ers are dumping a promising Stout base of young players into an incredible, well-aged barrel of veteran superstars and hoping for the best. Maybe we\u2019ll have some DROY candidates on our hands, ready to take on the cream of the crop in January and February as they crack open a new Super Bowl window. Maybe not. It\u2019ll take many weeks, months, possibly years to see what the 49ers are brewing.
We\u2019ll get our first taste this Sunday, and after such a long offseason, at least that\u2019s something we can all cheers to.<\/p>\n