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Pro Football Focus Ranks the 49ers' Roster No. 1 in the NFL

Stop me if you've heard this one before.

Grant Cohn

Nov 23, 2023; Seattle, Washington, USA; San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy (13), running back Christian McCaffrey (23) and San Francisco 49ers linebacker Fred Warner (54) partake in a turkey dinner following a 31-13 victory against the Seattle Seahawks at Lumen Field. Mandatory Credit: Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 23, 2023; Seattle, Washington, USA; San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy (13), running back Christian McCaffrey (23) and San Francisco 49ers linebacker Fred Warner (54) partake in a turkey dinner following a 31-13 victory against the Seattle Seahawks at Lumen Field. Mandatory Credit: Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports / Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports
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Stop me if you've heard this one before.

Despite losing the Super Bowl yet again, analysts still widely consider the 49ers to have the top roster in the NFL. Recently, Pro Football Focus writers Jim Wyman and Dalton Wasserman ranked the 49ers' roster no. 1 and explained why.

"Despite their Super Bowl loss, the 49ers are arguably the most talented team in the NFL," wrote Wyman and Wasserman. "They are loaded with playmakers on offense who provide the perfect environment for Brock Purdy to succeed. They consistently boast a top-five defense. Patrick Mahomes has twice been the primary obstacle in their quest for a Lombardi Trophy. There are no such hurdles, however, in their consistent regular season success. Twelve wins is the expectation for this team."

I would agree that the 49ers probably have the most talented team in the NFL, although it's also the oldest roster. Still, 12 wins is a reasonable expectation for the 49ers, although I expect they'll win 11 games this season.

But to write that "Patrick Mahomes has been the primary obstacle in their question for a Lombardi Trophy" is just factually inaccurate. The 49ers have intercepted Mahomes three times in two Super Bowls -- they've held their own against him.

The primary obstacle in the 49ers' quest for a sixth Lombardi Trophy has been head coach Kyle Shanahan. He has the best roster in the NFL, and yet he keeps getting outcoached badly by Andy Reid and Steve Spagnuolo.

The gap between Shanahan and Reid is far greater than the gap between Mahomes and Brock Purdy. And that's why the 49ers aren't champions. But it's cool that their roster is good.

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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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