The San Francisco 49ers may have had the most losses during the off-season out of any team in the NFL, but that shouldn’t count them out from being a contender in the NFC West. Losing Jim Harbaugh, Patrick Willis, Frank Gore, Mike Iupati, and Chris Borland isn’t easy, but I think it shouldn’t be a time to panic for the 49er faithful. I may or may not have a biased opinion, because it’s my team, but I am also a realest. People have been in an uproar due to the loss of coaches and several key players, but people are failing to talk about the acquisitions and people that are already on the team.
The Defense is the staple of this team, and even though Chris Culliver, Perish Cox, Chris Borland, Patrick Willis will be missing in action the defense should still be one of the best in the NFL. The 49ers added Darnell Dockett to the defensive line, and they will be able to insert youth into the linebacker core as well as the secondary. Even without the Hall-of-Famer to be Patrick Willis, the 49ers still have three All-Pro performers at linebacker in Ahmad Brooks, Aldon Smith, Navorro Bowman, and a budding star in Aaron Lynch. Brooks played some middle linebacker as a member of the Cincinnati Bengals, and he could be a viable option to help fill the hole of the middle linebacker spot left open by Willis and Borland. The 49ers also have veteran Michael Wilhoite who started 16 games last season notching 87 tackles, 6 pass deflections, and two interceptions. Last season, the 49ers finished 5th in the NFL in total defense, and that’s not a bad feat for a team that missed Patrick Willis, Navorro Bowman, and Aldon Smith for most of the season. In the secondary two key players were lost in Culliver in Cox, but Tramaine Brock, Chris Cook, and the raw and talented Dontae Johnson can hold their own with the help from two pro bowl safeties in Eric Reid and Andre Bethea.
Now on to the offense…..The offense sputtered last season under Jim Harbaugh and Greg Roman. At times the plan of attack was confusing as some games they would use Kaepernick as a running QB, and at times they would refuse to feed Frank Gore the ball. I honestly believed that the defenses in the NFC West caught up to the lack of creativity from Harbaugh and Roman, which led to the 49ers averaging 14.1 in games within the division. I feel that with Geep Chryst’s familiarity with Kaepernick will allow him to call plays that better suit him in the offense.
I feel that this year’s offense will be more explosive with the addition of Reggie Bush and Torrey Smith. Last season, the 49ers had a stable full of wide receivers, but none of them could take the top off the defense like Smith can. With Smith and Bush in the fold it will allow Vernon Davis, Anquan Boldin and company to work underneath to make plays. The jury is still out on the return of Michael Crabtree, so I really can’t speak on that until the smoke clears. Second year running back Carlos Hyde will also look to play a bigger role with the departure of Frank Gore. Last season in a limited role Hyde scored 4 touchdowns and added 333 rushing yards on less than 100 carries. With Hyde, Bush, and Kendall Hunter in the backfield, it will help alleviate the pressure off of Kaepernick.
The biggest wildcard is Colin Kaepernick, and I feel that he can have a bounce back season if used correctly. For some strange reason, Roman and Harbaugh ditched the Pistol offense that worked beautifully two seasons ago, and attempted to make Kap a traditional pocket quarterback. Kap will never be a prototypical quarterback, but that doesn’t mean he can’t be dynamic. Kap did a poor job of going through his progressions and his reads, but hopefully he puts the time in to work on the fundamentals of being a quarterback to help him in his weak areas.
All in all I feel that it doesn’t feel like a rebuilding period, but it is just some retooling to the roster. The 49ers have too much talent on their team to fall by the wayside. So I advise all not to panic, everything will be okay.
