{"id":698721,"date":"2026-01-23T11:08:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T11:08:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/698721\/"},"modified":"2026-01-23T11:08:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T11:08:14","slug":"49ers-news-49ers-need-to-add-team-speed-and-quickly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/698721\/","title":{"rendered":"49ers News: 49ers need to add team speed, and quickly"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brandon Aiyuk is gone. What\u2019s next for the 49ers at wide receiver? How about some speed? (paywall)
<\/a>\u201cThe 49ers have speed on the roster. Cowing and Watkins both ran sub-4.4-second 40-yard dashes before their respective drafts, and Pearsall clocked 4.41 seconds before his. But none could stay on the field in 2025. Cowing suffered a hamstring strain in the opening practice of training camp, then aggravated the injury multiple times while rehabilitating. He said he finally got on top of it by the end of the season and is entering the offseason healthy.<\/p>\n

Watkins, a rookie, was off to a good start before suffering a high-ankle sprain in the preseason opener.\u201c<\/p>\n

The ideal is that add a combo player who can start at guard before taking over for Trent Williams at tackle. The Steelers\u2019 Troy Fautanu was a player I thought fit that mold well. Maybe\u2026 Kadyn Proctor is that option this year? We\u2019ll be sure to evaluate him\u2026.Both West and Collins improved at astounding rates from the start of the year.<\/p>\n

Kalia Davis deserves a mention because he is the complete boom-bust run defender. I don\u2019t think it\u2019s an effective way to play defense. He fires off the line recklessly, which either leads to an incredible backfield stop\/disruption, or gets him pummeled into the ground and leaves the rest of the defense scrambling to pick up the gap he abandoned.<\/p>\n

Jordan Elliott was better than in 2024 by a significant margin, but teams still had a relatively easy time displacing him with double teams. Bringing both back on minimum deals wouldn\u2019t be damning, but I think the 49ers need more stable players who eat up space and\/or split gaps. Teair Tart is an intriguing free agent option\u2026..I will never argue that adding another great edge rusher is a bad idea.<\/p>\n

However, what I think the pass rush would benefit from more than anything is a gap-splitting defensive tackle. Alfred Collins doesn\u2019t have a bag (nor does Williams, but his power creates vertical displacement), and the rehab he\u2019ll face this offseason isn\u2019t encouraging. West started to collapse the pocket pretty effectively towards the end of the year, but he was also kept fresh.<\/p>\n

All that said, the most paradigm-altering addition that doesn\u2019t involve an outsized cap investment or a trade, is a defensive tackle. Williams was the right pick, but imagining a Walter Nolen (who also got injured) in this scheme is the exact thing that would take it from the basement to the penthouse. And\/or adding my longtime draft crush, Demonte Capeheart \u2014 a bagless wonder, but a wrecker in the run game \u2014 would continue their effort to add beef to the line and clog up lanes.\u201c<\/p>\n

Baldy on 49ers QB Brock Purdy: \u2018He\u2019s good enough\u2019<\/a>
\u201cI mean, you\u2019re not going to upgrade,\u201d Baldinger said. \u201cYou\u2019re not going to find anyone better than Brock. He is what he is. You\u2019ve got to build around Brock. Things have got to get better around him: defense, receivers, speed. You\u2019ve identified this guy, you\u2019ve paid him, [owner] Jed [York] made the right decision. He\u2019s good enough.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Brandon Aiyuk is gone. What\u2019s next for the 49ers at wide receiver? How about some speed? (paywall)\u201cThe 49ers…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":698722,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2080],"tags":[220,52307,7,6,1161,252,1137,2624,2623],"class_list":{"0":"post-698721","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-francisco-49ers","8":"tag-49ers","9":"tag-49ers-links","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-nfl","12":"tag-san-francisco","13":"tag-san-francisco-49ers","14":"tag-san-francisco-49ers-news","15":"tag-sanfrancisco","16":"tag-sanfrancisco49ers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115944102565553931","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/698721","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=698721"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/698721\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/698722"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=698721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=698721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=698721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}