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The Top Offseason Priority for the 49ers

The 49ers are trying to pull off a neat trick this year.
Grant Cohn|
May 9, 2025; Santa Clara, CA, USA; San Francisco 49ers defensive lineman Mikel Williams (98) watches his teammates do blocking drills during the teamís rookie minicamp. Mandatory Credit: D. Ross Cameron-Imagn Images
May 9, 2025; Santa Clara, CA, USA; San Francisco 49ers defensive lineman Mikel Williams (98) watches his teammates do blocking drills during the teamís rookie minicamp. Mandatory Credit: D. Ross Cameron-Imagn Images | D. Ross Cameron-Imagn Images

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San Francisco 49ers

The 49ers are trying to pull off a neat trick this year.

They have the easiest schedule in the league so they should make the playoffs. At the same time, they could start up to six rookies on defense alone. Which means those rookies better be ready to play this season for the 49ers to make a serious playoff run.

That's why NFL.com says the 49ers' No. 1 offseason priority is to prepare those young defenders to carry a hefty load.

"A series of offseason departures opened the door for the Niners to get much younger on defense," writes NFL.com's Kevin Patra. "First-rounder Mykel Williams and second-rounder Alfred Collins will be asked to help carry a revamped line alongside Nick Bosa, and the play of the two rookies could determine how the season goes for San Francisco on that side of the ball."

"Third-rounder Nick Martin could be in line to fill Dre Greenlaw's shoes at linebacker alongside Fred Warner, and fellow third-round pick Upton Stout could work his way into snaps at cornerback early. Even after the youth movement and ensuing financial overhaul, the defensive cupboard isn't bare -- and that will be particularly clear if coordinator Robert Saleh gets his rookies in gear quickly."

So far, Williams seems like a safe bet to start and make a positive impact right away. The rest of the rookies are question marks.

Alfred Collins currently has a calf injury and has missed rookie minicamp and the first week of OTAs, so he's behind. And Martin and Stout seem firmly behind Dee Winters and Tre Brown on the depth chart, respectively, at least for now.

As long as the rookies are playing by the end of the season, the 49ers should be alright.

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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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