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The 49ers Offense is Elite on Paper, but it has One Major Flaw

This flaw has existed for a while.
Grant Cohn|
Aug 9, 2025; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan watches from the sidelines in the first quarter against the Denver Broncos at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: David Gonzales-Imagn Images
Aug 9, 2025; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan watches from the sidelines in the first quarter against the Denver Broncos at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: David Gonzales-Imagn Images | David Gonzales-Imagn Images

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San Francisco 49ers

When the 49ers offense is healthy, it's one of the best in the NFL. Unfortunately, their offense wasn't healthy last year, and it isn't healthy now.

Granted, the start of the regular season is still a month away, and most of the injured players on offense are expected to be ready for Week 1. The only starter who definitely won't be ready is Brandon Aiyuk, who should return from a torn ACL, MCL and meniscus at some point midseason. So there's no reason to panic.

But there's a big reason the 49ers offense had so many injuries last season -- it was old. The average age of the starters was 28. This year, it's almost 30.

How healthy can you expect an offense to remain when only three of its key contributors are younger than 27? This offense is built to break down. Trent Williams hasn't played a full season since 2013. George Kittle hasn't played a full season since 2018. Ben Bartch, the starting left guard, hasn't played a full season ever. And Christian McCaffrey broke down last season and played in just four games after leading the league in touches in 2023.

The young core on offense was supposed to feature Brandon Aiyuk, but he's 27 now and probably won't make a full recovery until next season, when he'll be 28. So he isn't exactly young. That leaves only Brock Purdy, Dominick Puni and Ricky Pearsall as the 49ers' young stars. And Pearsall is highly unproven, Puni is having an up-and-down training camp, and Purdy is coming off his worst season.

San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle (85), running back Christian McCaffrey (5) and fullback Kyle Juszczyk (44) and qu
Aug 9, 2025; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle (85), running back Christian McCaffrey (5) and fullback Kyle Juszczyk (44) and quarterback Brock Purdy (13) stand on the sideline in the third quarter against the Denver Broncos at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: David Gonzales-Imagn Images | David Gonzales-Imagn Images

Why is the 49ers offense so old?

Good question. And the answer has everything to do with head coach Kyle Shanahan. He is a system coach, and his offensive scheme has been quite effective in the NFL for the better part of the past 15 years. He wants players who know his system. And it often takes players a full year to master it.

So Shanahan almost always will favor an older veteran who's injury-prone but rarely makes mistakes over a younger player who's explosive and durable but error-prone. As a result, Shanahan keeps bringing back the same veterans year after year simply because they require less coaching.

As long as Shanahan is the 49ers' head coach, they will have injury issues on offense. That's just a byproduct of his system and coaching style.

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Grant Cohn
GRANT COHN

Grant Cohn has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily since 2011. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat where he wrote the Inside the 49ers blog and covered famous coaches and athletes such as Jim Harbaugh, Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Willis. In 2012, Inside the 49ers won Sports Blog of the Year from the Peninsula Press Club. In 2020, Cohn joined FanNation and began writing All49ers. In addition, he created a YouTube channel which has become the go-to place on YouTube to consume 49ers content. Cohn's channel typically generates roughly 3.5 million viewers per month, while the 49ers' official YouTube channel generates roughly 1.5 million viewers per month. Cohn live streams almost every day and posts videos hourly during the football season. Cohn is committed to asking the questions that 49ers fans want answered, and providing the most honest and interactive coverage in the country. His loyalty is to the reader and the viewer, not the team or any player or coach. Cohn is a new-age multimedia journalist with an old-school mentality, because his father is Lowell Cohn, the legendary sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1979 to 1993. The two have a live podcast every Tuesday. Grant Cohn grew up in Oakland and studied English Literature at UCLA from 2006 to 2010. He currently lives in Oakland with his wife.

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