It’s hard to quantify which players are overrated and underrated. The 49ers went to the Super Bowl last season, and they’re among the favorites to go back this year. There aren’t many people underrating the team as a whole.
Still, there are some individuals who are among the team’s best players who aren’t discussed alongside Nick Bosa, Richard Sherman and George Kittle.
This is less about what 49ers fans think, and more about the national conversation that takes place around the 49ers. Here’s who doesn’t get talked about enough alongside the team’s other top players.
FS Jimmie Ward
Injuries and position changes have overshadowed just how effective Ward is. The fact the 49ers re-signed him in 2019 after he failed to play more than 11 games in four of his first five seasons speaks volumes about how the team feels about him as a player. He earned a three-year deal this offseason after putting together a very strong season at his natural free safety position. He finished the season as San Francisco’s fourth highest-graded defender per Pro Football Focus, and the sixth highest-graded safety. He’s among the best players at his position in the league, and he was a key cog in the 49ers’ No. 1 pass defense a season ago.
WR Kendrick Bourne
The lack of raw receiving stats through three seasons have kept the former undrafted free agent from working his way into the spotlight in the 49ers’ passing attack. Bourne is probably never going to be a 100-catch or 1,000-yard receiver. He may never get to 70 and 700. However, he’s developed into a reliable target for Jimmy Garoppolo, and turned 36 catches last season and postseason into six touchdowns and 22 first downs. Having a third receiver who moves the chains and scores points is exceptionally valuable, and Bourne does both of those things very well. He’ll be a big part of their passing offense again this season.
CB K’Waun Williams
Williams was the sixth highest-graded 49ers defender last season, and he tied for the team lead with two interceptions. It wasn’t just the 2019 campaign where he was good though. “The only two qualifying cornerbacks with a better overall grade in the slot than Williams since 2014 are Chris Harris Jr. and Desmond King II,” according to Pro Football Focus. While Richard Sherman gets a lot of deserved credit for his impact on the boundary, Williams’ play in the slot had an equally large effect on the 49ers’ No. 1-ranked pass defense.
QB Jimmy Garoppolo
While the memory of Garoppolo’s struggles at the end of Super Bowl LIV linger, the conversation around the 49ers’ quarterback has seemed to push him into the lower tier of NFL signal callers. His larger 16-game sample size showed that he’s a quarterback capable of winning a championship. Despite coming off a torn ACL and making it through his first 16-game season, Garoppolo finished tied for fourth in completion rate, 12th in yards, tied for fifth in touchdowns, seventh in touchdown rate, third in yards per attempt and eighth in passer rating. While there are some flaws to Garoppolo’s game, and Shanahan’s offense makes life easier for a quarterback, Garoppolo still executed and made some key plays and had some big games down the stretch to help earn the 49ers the No. 1 seed in the NFC.
DE Ronald Blair
Re-signing Blair to a one-year deal didn’t make a ton of waves for the 49ers this offseason. The backup defensive end tore his ACL in Week 10 and missed the rest of the year. While Blair doesn’t start, he’s a very valuable piece for a defensive line that relies heavily on its depth to make life difficult for quarterbacks for 60 minutes. Blair had 3.0 sacks in nine games last year, and 5.5 in 16 games the year prior. He was also No. 7 in PFF’s overall defensive grade for the 49ers. Blair rushes the passer effectively and plays the run well. He’s not liable to work into a starting job or play a lion’s share of the snaps, but his role is still a valuable one for San Francisco.
SS Jaquiski Tartt
Tartt’s forced fumble and recovery against Seahawks wide receiver DK Metcalf in Week 10 might’ve gone down as the play of the year had San Francisco won that contest. Instead it was a remarkable play that got swept underneath an epic overtime finish and 49ers defeat. Tartt isn’t highly graded by PFF, and his raw stats don’t stand out. However, he’s one of the team’s best tacklers, he’s versatile, and he allowed only one touchdown in coverage last season. There’s also this: In the first three games Tartt missed last year, the 49ers allowed 35.3 points and 291 passing yards per game.
