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49ers Rank 13th in ESPN's Early 2025 NFL Power Rankings

The 49ers certainly expect to be Super Bowl contenders next season, but ESPN doesn't.
Grant Cohn|
Jan 5, 2025; Glendale, Arizona, USA; San Francisco 49ers defensive end Nick Bosa (97) against the Arizona Cardinals at State Farm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images
Jan 5, 2025; Glendale, Arizona, USA; San Francisco 49ers defensive end Nick Bosa (97) against the Arizona Cardinals at State Farm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

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San Francisco 49ers

The 49ers certainly expect to be Super Bowl contenders next season, but ESPN doesn't.

In an extremely early power ranking for 2025, the 49ers ranked 13th out of 32 teams according to ESPN, which is quite a sobering assessment. And even 13th seems generous considering the 49ers are ahead of teams such as the Broncos (10-7 in 2024), the Seahawks (10-7), the Buccaneers (10-7), the Steelers (10-7) and the Cardinals (beat the 49ers twice last season).

Meanwhile, the 49ers were 6-11. Their record should be better this season now that they have Robert Saleh back as their defensive coordinator and an easier schedule than last year. But the 49ers may not be able to improve their team much in free agency because they're going to have to spend so much money just to extend Brock Purdy, George Kittle and maybe Dre Greenlaw.

The 49ers are hoping older players such as Trent Williams and Christian McCaffrey can stay healthy and perform at an elite level for an entire season, but they may not have that capability anymore. Meanwhile, the Commanders, the Lions and the Cardinals probably will be aggressive in adding free agents this offseason.

The 49ers seem a ways away from competing from the teams who are a ways away from competing with the Eagles. They need to spend two years' worth of high draft picks on the trenches to begin to replicate the roster Philadelphia has assembled.

No one is scared of the 49ers anymore.

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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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