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Jerry Rice Says the 49ers Added Too Many Young Players this Offseason

The 49ers clearly didn't consult with Jerry Rice before they added five rookies to their starting lineup this offseason.
Grant Cohn|
Dec 8, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers legend Jerry Rice is excited for the game during the second quarter against the Chicago Bears at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Bob Kupbens-Imagn Images
Dec 8, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers legend Jerry Rice is excited for the game during the second quarter against the Chicago Bears at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Bob Kupbens-Imagn Images | Bob Kupbens-Imagn Images

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San Francisco 49ers

The 49ers clearly didn't consult with Jerry Rice before they added five rookies to their starting lineup this offseason.

The 49ers like to consult with former players, particularly ones from the past two decades when the Yorks have owned the team. Frank Gore has been a football advisor for the 49ers since 2023.

Rice is not a football advisor. He comes to the home games, but the 49ers don't seem to solicit his advice. So, he gives it to them unsolicited.

This past week at the American Century Championship celebrity golf tournament, Rice was asked about the 49ers' offseason moves.

"I just feel like we added on too many pieces," Rice said. "The reason why I say that is these guys are young guys. Super Bowl 60 is going to be here in San Francisco. I would have preferred to sort of leave everything like last year, add on to that, and have a chance for this coming year.

"A lot of young guys. Now, can Kyle Shanahan pull it together and can these guys jell? We have to wait and see. But there's this big question mark if it's going to work.

"I'm always going to go Niners no matter what. But we're bringing in so many young players. It's going to take a while for that team to jell. If it doesn't happen this year, then maybe the next couple of years.”

I don't know Rice personally, but I'm guessing it made him happy to essentially call out the Yorks for being cheap this offseason. And he's right -- they are being cheap. They currently have more than $45 million in cap space that they aren't using. Instead, they're expecting to "take lumps" early in the season while the rookies get their feet under them.

I'm glad Rice said something.

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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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