The Future is Exceedingly Bright for the 49ers as They Turn the Page to 2022
Quite the year 2021 was for the San Francisco 49ers.
Going as far as they did when they started the season 3-5 was inconceivable at the time.
But this team never quit and was able to get it together to muster a strong playoff push that saw them half a quarter away from returning to the Super Bowl.
Following the heartbreaking loss to the Rams in the NFC Championship game, the 49ers must now put this season behind them. They'll certainly learn and benefit from the adversity they faced, but this team will not look the same going into next season. Plenty of veterans on the 49ers will be finding themselves new homes next season.
But despite the inevitable departures of some, if not most, veterans, the future is exceedingly bright for the 49ers as they turn the page to 2022.
Look at all of the young seeds they have planted this past season. Trey Lance, Ambry Thomas, Talanoa Hufanga, Elijah Mitchell, and so many more young talents. The 49ers have set themselves a clear path to sustaining long-term success with these players. It is something that veterans around the 49ers have taken notice of with the growth of these players and how their future outlook will be.
"From the time that he played in Detroit to this last game he was just amazing to how much he's improved ya know?" said Emmanuel Moseley regarding Thomas' rookie season."
"You can see he wasn't as confident at first, but his confidence is there and you can see as he goes on the field and plays. He's guarding some of the best receivers in the league, he's coming down making tackles. You can just see his confidence growing at practice just the way he communicates to us now . Very excited to see what he's going to do next year."
The growth of Thomas is the most intriguing of all the young players because of how rough his year started. He went from being inactive to becoming a serviceable starter in the end. His difficult start and strong finish left Warner in awe of his experience.
"Ambry's story is incredible in my eyes," said Fred Warner. "I remember at training camp he was kind of on the line of, ya know, just couldn't quite get it. He wasn't quite getting it and just made a complete 180. I mean, he just came around and came up huge for us in the end here on this run, had a huge contribution to our defense and this team."
Thomas went from questionable draft pick to an ascending player. It is yet another example of why rushing to conclusions with young players is ridiculous. Thomas grew up in front of everyone's eyes and has set the tone for other rookies and young players on the 49ers.
But no young talent on the 49ers will have more eyes on him than Trey Lance.
2022 and beyond gives him that the 49ers will no longer have a quarterback who limits the offense. Plenty of veterans said a lot about Lance in regards to his season and future, but none had more impactful words than Trent Williams.
"I think he grew a lot, a tremendous amount," said Williams. "Trey is a very inquisitive person. He's not one of the people that thinks he knows it all. He's somebody that comes to learn, comes to work. And he's always picking brains around no matter what position you play. We even had a talk last night about quarterback play and how it merges up with offensive line and stuff like that for like an hour, so he's that type of individual. And I think this year played out just how everybody in the organization thought it would.
"They wanted to give him a year to kind of continue to develop as being a 21 year old. I mean, he just was old enough to buy his first beer or a pack of cigarettes a few months ago, so we can't just put the weight of the world on his shoulders even though he is a young man who can handle it. But I think it went exactly how he wanted it to go. He developed very nicely on the practice squad. He was 1-1 as a starter, should've been 2-0, came in and won a game for us when we were in playoff mode. If we would've loss that game (Week 17 vs. Texans), we wouldn't have been in the playoffs and wouldn't have been there yesterday."
Everything in 2022 is about youth for the 49ers. They are slim on draft picks and need their young players to ascend. But so long as Lance is the one they hit successfully on, which Williams and others are excited for, he can make up for other areas and give the other players time to grow. A good quarterback can mask a lot.
"I have no doubt in my mind that he can be a generational, I mean he is a generational talent, and now it is just putting that talent in with the work ethic and making it come together on Sundays."
