SANTA CLARA, Calif. — The 10th stop on my training camp trip is with a 49ers team that looks decidedly different from the ones that went to four NFC title games in five years. There’s a lot of change here, and plenty to dig into …
• The Niners’ dead cap figure for 2025 is approaching $100 million, and that’s largely been by design—the franchise was going to have to take its medicine at some point, and we’re now at that point. And where that’s being felt most is in the roster’s depth. It’s been visible during camp as San Francisco has dealt with the normal bumps and bruises teams incur through the summer. For a while, Ricky Pearsall, Jauan Jennings and Jacob Cowing were out (and Brandon Aiyuk won’t be back until midseason), and there were receivers out there with Brock Purdy and the starters who may not be in the league this year—which colors the narrower path this version of the Niners will have to walk to reach their goals. It doesn’t mean they can’t get there. It just means they’ll need a really good combination of injury luck and player development to get there.
• Conversely, the good news is the star-studded core the Niners have leaned on, a core that’s certainly aging, showed up in really good shape overall. Christian McCaffrey, who missed time with Achilles tendonitis and had his season ended with a PCL injury, only had 65 touches last year. The silver lining? He’s looked fresh and ready this spring, and has looked like himself into the summer. The Niners are going to be careful with him, but the signs there are good. George Kittle, meanwhile, has looked as explosive as ever, and Trent Williams has come back in better shape for camp than he had in years. Add Fred Warner and Nick Bosa looking like themselves, and the remaining core should be more than good enough to compete.
• Robert Saleh, the new/old defensive coordinator, looms as San Francisco’s biggest acquisition of the offseason. The reason? The Niners will play a lot of young guys on defense, and so the development of the guys, and how the coaches scheme around them, will be crucial. The defensive line group around Bosa is the first place to look on that, with first-round DE Mykel Williams, second-round DT Alfred Collins and fourth-round DT CJ West likely to be leaned on from the jump. Williams likely will play inside, a la Arik Armstead, on passing downs, which should help on the interior. Bryce Huff is a great fit for Saleh’s scheme, as evidenced with the Jets, and has had a nice camp thus far, so Huff can play the edge opposite Bosa in those situations. Meanwhile, third-rounder Nick Martin has played well enough to figure into the equation with Warner and Dee Winters, who’s in Dre Greenlaw’s old spot, at linebacker. And another third-rounder, Upton Stout, has been one of the stars of camp, and could wind up being the starting nickel. So that, put together, is a baseline of six rookies that Saleh and his defensive staff have to get ready to play.
• And depth is a question in spots on offense too, which makes the development of young players on that side almost as important. Two in particular have stepped into the void, and look ready to contribute. One is Cowing, a second-year slot receiver who’s been banged up early in camp and has just four career catches, but has real speed and has brought juice to the offense in practice. The other is rookie back Jordan James, a fifth-rounder out of Oregon who lasted longer into Day 3 of the draft than anticipated. With Jordan Mason off to Minnesota, the Niners are looking for someone to give them insurance for, and a chance to spell, McCaffrey. James isn’t big, but he's a fast, compact, violent runner who looks ready to play some sort of role in the offense.
• Of course, a lot of this goes back to Brock Purdy, the Niners’ $265 million man. When you give a quarterback a deal like that, there’s a toll to pay, and generally it means more will be foisted on that guy’s shoulders. Purdy understands that. He also got to a point last year where, admittedly, he tried to do too much to combat the rash of injuries that took down so many of the pieces around him—his coaches gave him cutups to illustrate it in the spring. Which is to say that last year set him up for what he’ll be faced with this year, and going forward. He’s a pretty level guy in general, and my sense is that experience will prepare him to handle what’s coming with all the moving parts around him. But there’s no question, his importance to the team is heightened with the amount of transition going on.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as 49ers Training Camp Takeaways: Core Group Remains Strong With Depth Up in the Air.
