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The 49ers' Biggest Reason for Optimism this Year

The 49ers have lots of reasons to feel optimistic this year.
Grant Cohn|
Nov 10, 2024; Tampa, Florida, USA; San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey (23) celebrates after beating the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Raymond James Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images
Nov 10, 2024; Tampa, Florida, USA; San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey (23) celebrates after beating the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Raymond James Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images | Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

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San Francisco 49ers

The 49ers have lots of reasons to feel optimistic this year.

They have the easiest schedule in the NFL on paper. They just signed their starting quarterback to a five-year contract. Plus, they hired Robert Saleh as their defensive coordinator. Things are looking up for a 49ers team that won just six games last season.

But the 49ers' biggest reason for optimism is a return to good health, according to Pro Football Focus.

"One of many reasons the 49ers missed the postseason last season was a slew of injuries to their star players," writes PFF's Dalton Wasserman. "Only four of their offensive starters played in all 17 games last season. Christian McCaffrey and Brandon Aiyuk both played fewer than 400 snaps. Trent Williams didn’t play after Week 11. The defensive line was decimated by the end of the season, as well.

"San Francisco should see improvement simply due to their star players returning to full strength."

This argument seems like a bit of a stretch.

Sure, McCaffrey is healthy now, but he just turned 29 and missed 13 games due to bilateral Achilles tendonitis and a torn PCL. He probably won't ever play like he did when he was 26 and 27. That's life.

In addition, Williams is currently healthy, but he will turn 37 in July and hasn't played a full season since 2013. And the 49ers are 4-12 since 2020 when he doesn't play.

Finally, Aiyuk is injured right now. So is Malik Mustapha. Those two are recovering from knee surgeries and it's unclear when they'll be fully healthy. For Aiyuk, he might take until 2026 before he's himself, considering he tore his ACL, MCL and meniscus.

Expecting Aiyuk, Williams and McCaffrey to carry the 49ers offense like they did a couple years ago seems like wishful thinking.

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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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