The 49ers' Roster for 2025 is Extremely Top Heavy

The rest of the roster is extremely thin. Let's go through it position by position.

Oct 29, 2023; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle (85) and running back Christian McCaffrey (23) put their helmets together after McCaffrey scored a touchdown against the Cincinnati Bengals during the fourth quarter at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-Imagn Images | Kelley L Cox-Imagn Images

The media loves the 49ers.

That's because they had the best roster in the NFL in 2023 and they still have their core group of seven players: George Kittle, Christian McCaffrey, Trent Williams, Brock Purdy, Nick Bosa, Fred Warner and Deommodore Lenoir. Plus they have Kyle Shanahan and Robert Saleh.

But the rest of the roster is extremely thin. Let's go through it position by position.

At safety, Malik Mustapha could miss half the season after tearing his ACL in Week 18. Which means the starting safeties probably will be Ji'Ayir Brown and Jason Pinnock, two of the worst starting safeties in the league.

At cornerback, the 49ers have Lenoir, who's terrific. They also have Renard Green, who has started 7 career games. And they have Upton Stout, a rookie.

At linebacker, the 49ers have Fred Warner, who's a future Hall of Famer. After him, they have Dee Winters, who was not good last season, and Nick Martin, a rookie.

On the defensive line, the 49ers have Nick Bosa, who's elite. Then they have Yetur Gross-Matos and Jordan Elliott -- two backups -- and a bunch of rookies.

On the offensive line, they have Dominick Puni, who had an excellent rookie season, and Trent Willians, who's a future Hall of Famer. But he's old and he missed 7 games last season. Plus the rest of the line got worse with the losses of Aaron Banks and Jaylon Moore.

At wide receiver, Jauan Jennings is their No. 1 option. He's a good player, but he's a second banana at best. We have no idea when Brandon Aiyuk will return or how good he'll be after tearing three ligaments in his knee.

At running back, Christian McCaffrey is old and injury prone and the 49ers have no one proven behind him after trading Jordan Mason to the Vikings.

At tight end, George Kittle misses games every season and he'll turn 32 in October. And the 49ers' No. 2 tight end, Luke Farrell, has never caught a touchdown pass.

And at quarterback, the 49ers have Purdy, who injured his throwing arm twice last season, and now he'll be playing behind a worse offensive line than last season. Behind him, the 49ers have Mac Jones who has lost 19 of his past 25 starts.

So sure, the 49ers could have a bounce-back season. They certainly have an easy schedule. But on paper, they might have the worst roster in the NFC West.