The 49ers are entering the 2020 season looking to make history and go to a second-consecutive Super Bowl for only the second time. They last did it in 1988 and 1989. That’s a potentially attainable record. There are a slew of individual records that won’t likely be tied or broken any time soon.
While digging through some stats, we started coming across a host of numbers that we won’t likely see a player reach again in San Francisco.
Here are some career and single-season franchise records that are safe for the foreseeable future:
Career starts
Jerry Rice: 224
Rice winds up on this list more than once, but his 224 starts are pretty incredible since nobody else in team history even played 224 games. To put 224 starts into perspective, a player would have to start every game for 14 seasons. A quarterback could come along and push Rice’s career starts record, but even that one is a long shot.
Single-season interceptions
Ronnie Lott and Dave Baker: 10
Baker set the record in 1960, and Lott tied it in 1986. While NFL offenses are starting to lean more on the passing game, passing concepts are getting more advanced and more players are being targeted by quarterbacks. That makes racking up INTs more difficult for defenders. No player has reached 10 interceptions since Antonio Cromartie in 2007, and no player has eclipsed that mark since Everson Walls had 11 for Dallas in 1981. For the 49ers, they haven’t had a player post more than five INTs since 2011.
Single-season interception return yards
Deion Sanders: 303
This is sort of a strange stat, but 303 interception return yards by Sanders is bananas. Only five other players have ever had more than 300 in a season, and the 49ers’ franchise record is 239 by Dwight Hicks in 1981. Considering how hard it is to rack up INTs, it’s impossible to envision any player surpassing Sanders’ 1994 total.
Career rushing yards
Frank Gore: 11,073
Gore is the only player in team history with more than 10,000 rushing yards in a 49ers uniform. In an era where the running back position is ruled by committees of backs, and carries are harder to come by. A player would have to average 1,100 rushing yards for 10 years. Only 10 players surpassed 1,100 rushing yards in the NFL last season, and that number is more likely to dip before it climbs.
Career receiving yards
Jerry Rice: 19,247
This is the second of three Rice stats on this list. His career receiving yards record might be unbreakable even by NFL standards. If he’d retired after his time in San Francisco, he’d still have the most receiving yards in NFL history by more than 2,000 yards. Getting a player to half of Rice’s total would be a nice victory for the 49ers.
Career receiving touchdowns
Jerry Rice: 176
This is just an absurd amount of touchdowns. The second-highest total in franchise history belongs to Terrell Owens with 81 receiving touchdowns. He’s an NFL and 49ers Hall of Famer and he has fewer than half of Rice’s receiving TDs. That number is safe and sound.
Single-season kick-return touchdowns
Abe Woodson: 3 in 1963
Kickoff returns have become so rare that even one in a season is special. In fact, Woodson returning three in 1963 is the only time a 49er has returned more than one kick in a season. The 49ers have three kick return touchdowns combined since 2008. Given new kickoff rules, it would be a small miracle for a player to return two in a season — which hasn’t been done in the NFL since 2015.
