That was certainly a crappy way to end an otherwise wild and fun season.
I won't dwell on the details of last night's game but I think it, coupled with the week 18 loss to the Seahawks, is informative in assessing, not so much this season, but the path forward. Aside from the fact that the 49ers played a deeper, younger, faster, healthier, more rested team on the road on a short week the NFL is a matchup league and the Seahawks are clearly a bad matchup for the 49ers. Not good considering the Rams will continue to be a tough matchup and the Cardinals have some nice pieces and could finally get their act together with a new regime. The NFC West isn't getting any easier any time soon.
It's hard to feel disappointed about this season. $180M out of a $279M cap in players no longer on the roster or sitting on IR. That coupled with the stacking of injuries at positions where they ended up playing 3rd and 4th stringers at times. They won a bunch of games they shouldn't have and only lost one they shouldn't have. They were in position to have a chance to win the division and get the 1 seed in the NFC despite having no business being in that position. Shanahan, aside from the two Seahawks games looked like an all world coach and Saleh had a defense packed with rookies and nobodies doing just enough. The special teams was vastly improved and gave the 49ers an advantage in every single game not played against Seattle (who have the #1 STs unit). Some of the rookies like Stout, Collins, West and Williams (before he got hurt) flashed some great potential. Purdy played well, aside from throwing a few too many picks, and showed a knack for extending plays and finding a way to win close games.
Thoughts on 2026
- Need to figure out what's going on with all these injuries. 7 out of the last 9 years the 49ers have been top 5 in injuries. It hasn't seemed to matter if they had young teams, old teams, good teams or bad teams. There always seems to be a significant amount of injuries.
- Need more team speed. CMC is getting older and is still great but no longer explosive. Without Aiyuk and an oft injured Pearsall the 49ers had objectively the slowest wide receiver core in the league. This was a huge deficiency against the Seahawks fast defense. They have a couple rookies with potential but likely need to sign a true X receiver in FA.
- Need to figure out what to do at TE. Kittle will be out at least the first half of the season, if not more. They need to decide if they want to roll with Tonges or try to sign a guy like Pitts in FA.
- Need to bolster the trenches. The interior DLine and interior OLine both need to be upgraded. They have a couple good rookies at DT who should be the starters next year but they need more pass rush from the interior and a deeper rotation. On the OLine LG and C are a big problem. They should consider drafting an OT in the first round who will be the projected Trent Williams replacement who they can start at LG in the interim.
- Need to upgrade Corner. Lenoir is a good corner and the rookie Stout had a very good year playing nickel corner but the combination of Green and Luter at CB2 was not good.
- Need to a true free safety.
Between the draft and free agency the 49ers have a lot of work to do but they do have 8 picks and Mac Jones to potentially trade if they get a good draft pick or player in return. The cap should go up dramatically next year and the 49ers will be rolling over a good chunk of cap space from this year and get some relief from the Aiyuk deal. They should be in a pretty good spot to address some needs in free agency.
The question will be can they successfully walk the tight rope of maximizing the remaining productive years of their aging all pros, drafting and developing the next core, augment in free agency and stay healthy enough to contend again in what should be a really tough NFC?
We shall see...
Sats for all,
GR
Do you know if they'll get the Aiyuk cap space back? We haven't heard about what's happening to Wilkins' cap hit yet.
It’s showing 15M for him next season. I thought it was much higher than that.
Great in depth
Will you not have Kittle for that long?
He tore his Achilles. Had surgery this week so best case 10 months.
Ughhhhh
ON TO THE MOCK DRAFTS
I already did a few this morning. It will be interesting to see where they go round 1. Can make a legitimate argument for OT, DT, DE, CB or WR.
They need DT more than DE but if a stud DE is there how do you say no?
Haha you waste no time
I wanted to do them earlier but it seems wrong until the team is eliminated.
Wonder if Saleh will be back -- his name came up in some potential hiring scenarios, and pretty much anyone who's coached the Jets gets a mulligan.
Seems unlikely. I think he will get one of the head coaching jobs.
Need to build a new practice facility not beside a substation
That's not going to happen. I was consulting AI and it suggested building barriers and even specialized exterior paints for buildings can help to mitigate EMF.
The recurring injury problem is not just bad luck. Seven out of nine years near the top of the league in injuries suggests something deeper in terms of training regimens medical staffing practice intensity or perhaps even player acquisition philosophy. Without addressing that issue directly every other roster improvement risks being undermined. The 49ers should treat this as a core organizational priority equal in importance to draft and free agency planning.
The speed deficiency you note is critical in the modern NFL. Matchup football increasingly rewards teams that can stretch defenses horizontally and vertically. Against the Seahawks it was clear that the lack of explosive threats on the perimeter allowed them to crowd the box and disrupt timing routes. This dimension cannot be fixed solely through scheme. It requires targeted personnel moves a true X receiver or even dual-threat speed options to keep defenses honest.
I haven’t read this yet but I’m looking forward to it. I always enjoy your analysis