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Why Minicamp is So Important for the 49ers this Offseason

Last year at this time, the 49ers just wanted to fast forward to the postseason. Maybe that's why they didn't make it.
Grant Cohn|
May 9, 2025; Santa Clara, CA, USA; San Francisco 49ers defensive lineman Mikel Williams (98) works out 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) works out during the teamís rookie minicamp. Mandatory Credit: D. Ross Cameron-Imagn Images | D. Ross Cameron-Imagn Images

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San Francisco 49ers

Last year at this time, the 49ers just wanted to fast forward to the postseason. Maybe that's why they didn't make it.

They were coming off their second Super Bowl loss under head coach Kyle Shanahan and they seemed in shock. They had the best roster, they led in the fourth quarter and overtime and still lost. They were so close. And it seemed like their minds were on what they would do differently in that situation the next time.

As a result, the 49ers had a miserable offseason last year. Player attendance was light and the practices lacked urgency. They were perfunctory. The 49ers even had to cancel a joint practice with the Saints because they didn't have enough healthy players to participate. Embarrassing.

This offseason is different. Now, the 49ers are coming off a miserable 6-11 season and they've had an extra-long offseason to stew on it. They understand that they have to earn their way back to the Super Bowl, and that process starts now, not in September.

Last year, the 49ers were a collection of talent, not a team. There's a difference. Teams get built in OTAs and minicamp. And that's why Trent Williams, George Kittle, Nick Bosa, Fred Warner and Christian McCaffrey all showed up this year. These practices are serious. They must get themselves in the best shape possible and show the young players what it takes to build a dominant team.

You have to admire their determination.

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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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