PFF Ranks the 49ers' Rookie Class 7th Best in the NFL

The 49ers didn't have many bright spots this season, but one was their rookie class.
December 30, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers cornerback Renardo Green (0) deflects the football intended for Detroit Lions tight end Sam LaPorta (87) in the endzone during the second quarter at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-Imagn Images
December 30, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers cornerback Renardo Green (0) deflects the football intended for Detroit Lions tight end Sam LaPorta (87) in the endzone during the second quarter at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-Imagn Images / Kyle Terada-Imagn Images
In this story:

The 49ers didn't have many bright spots this season, but one was their rookie class.

For the most part, it was outstanding. By the end of the season, six rookies essentially were starters. And that's why Pro Football Focus ranks the 49ers' rookie class seventh among the 32 NFL teams this season.

"A plethora of injuries enabled the 49ers to see what their young players could do as the team struggled to stay in the postseason race," writes PFF analyst Dalton Wasserman. "The star of their rookie class is right guard Dominick Puni, who immediately became one of the best run blockers in the NFL. Ricky Pearsall recovered from a scary off-field incident to contribute down the stretch, including an outstanding 141-yard performance against the Lions. Isaac Guerendo also saw some backfield opportunities with the team’s running back unit banged up, and Jacob Cowing was the team’s primary punt returner. San Francisco appears to have found a couple of keepers on defense in cornerback Renardo Green and hard-hitting safety Malik Mustapha. Green earned a solid 74.3 PFF coverage grade while breaking up nine passes. Mustapha showed well in the box, with a 66.3 PFF run-defense grade while breaking up three passes of his own. The 49ers will need to find less expensive resources with a Brock Purdy extension coming down the pipe. A draft class like this will certainly help that cause."

For what it's worth, the Rams have the No. 1 rookie class, which is a big reason why they finished the regular season on a tear and won the NFC West.

But the stock of the 49ers' rookie class could rise even further next season as Ricky Pearsall becomes entrenched in the offense. He came on strong at the end of the year.

Download and follow The Cohn Zohn Podcast.


Published
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.