The good feelings that came with an active free agency and what many would describe as a solid NFL Draft has now given in to reality in San Francisco.
Flush with just 10 wins over the course of the first two seasons of the Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch regime, a report from back in late April suggests that there’s discord between the two.
Shanahan has emphatically denied said report — leading to suggestions that there’s potentially a leakage within the 49ers’ organization. This is something that both Lynch and Shanahan wanted to avoid when they were both signed to rare six-year contracts back in 2017.
The larger-scale question isn’t whether there’s a split between Shanahan and his general manager. That’s always going to happen. Disagreements are commonplace during the NFL offseason, primarily in the lead up to the draft. Instead, it’s all about whether these two can more forward as one. There’s no real question about this.
What we do know is that Shanahan and Lynch are tied at the hip. They made that clear by signing twin deals a bit over two years ago. It’s now about their performances.
That’s going to be the biggest key heading into a 2019 season that will once again see expectations include a playoff run. It’s the very same expectations San Francisco had heading into the 2018 season before quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo and running back Jerick McKinnon suffered torn ACLs.
Barring further injuries, this core group should be in contention for a playoff spot. While Lynch and Shanahan deserve some leeway for the first two seasons, 2019 is going to be different.
The 2017 campaign was defined by the two pretty much taking over an expansion roster. This past season saw Garoppolo and McKinnon both go down before three games had even been completed.
There’s no excuses heading into September this time around. Lynch and Shanahan have done a tremendous job building both talent and depth on the roster.
That started during free agency with he acquisitions of Pro Bowl defenders Kwon Alexander, Dee Ford and Jason Verrett. On offense, San Francisco brought in studly young running back Tevin Coleman and a reclamation project in the form of wide receiver Jordan Matthews.
Once free agency gave in to the draft, Lynch/Shanahan were out there adding even more beef on defense while providing Garoppolo with a ton of weapons on offense.
That included selecting the consensus No. 1 overall player in the draft, EDGE rusher Nick Bosa, with the second pick. Bosa should team up with Pro Bowlers Dee Ford and DeForest Buckner to form one of the best front fours in the entire NFL.
Pretty much taking a cue from Shanahan, San Francisco picked up wide receivers Deebo Samuel and Jalen Hurd the next two rounds. As we noted in reviewing the draft, these two players will act as chess pieces for Shanahan moving forward.
Looking at the roster dynamic and how Shanahan’s offense should run this season, we could witness a top-10 unit.
Assuming Garoppolo is healthy, this offense should take off big time. San Francisco averaged north of 21 points per game last season with Nick Mullens and C.J. Beathard splitting time. That same offense saw undrafted free agents Matt Breida and Jeff Wilson do a bulk of the work in the backfield while veteran receivers Pierre Garcon and Marquise Goodwin were injury plagued throughout the season.
There was no depth on this offense. Some of that had to do with injuries. Though, a rebuilding team lacks depth. This came out in droves for the 49ers last season.
With Garoppolo healthy and reinforcements at the skill positions, there’s no excuses in 2019.
The quarterback will be joined by Breida, McKinnon and Coleman in what is a stacked backfield. Add in Pro Bowl fullback Kyle Juszczyk, and this might be the deepest set of backfield players in the entire NFL.
At wide receiver, Dante Pettis will look for more consistency after flashing big time as a rookie. He’s joined by the best route runner in the 2019 NFL Draft in the form of Deebo Samuel and a big-bodied 6-foot-4 receiver in that of Jalen Hurd. With Goodwin looking to return to 2017 form, this receiver group is much deeper than we’ve seen in the past.
This doesn’t even take into account free-agent acquisition Jordan Matthews. Prior to struggling over the past two seasons, he averaged north of 800 receiving yards in Philadelphia from 2014-16.
After a record-breaking 2018 campaign, we’re also expecting Pro Bowl tight end George Kittle to remain heavily featured on offense. It will certainly be interesting to see how he meshes with Garoppolo. The two have played less than a couple of handfuls of games with one another.
Boasting strong book ends a long the offensive line in tackles Joe Staley and Mike McGlinchey, this unit should also perform well. It will be all about how guards Laken Tomlinson and Mike Person perform after strong 2018 campaigns.
Shanahan is considered an offensive genius. Given the diversity of weapons he has on that side of the ball, there’s no reason to believe this unit can’t turn in a top-10 scoring performance in 2019. If not, questions will be raised about the head coach.
Defensively, Shanahan and Lynch sought to upgrade one major area of weakness over the past two seasons — pass rush.
Last season saw Cassius Marsh lead the team’s EDGE rushers with just 5.5 sacks. San Francisco’s brass knew that this wasn’t sustainable if the team wanted to get into playoff contention.
The 49ers' first focus was to add Pro Bowler Dee Ford in a trade with the Kansas City Chiefs. Ford, 28, recorded 29 quarterback hits, 13 sacks and a league-high seven forced fumbles last season. Ford was among the top EDGE rushers in the entire game.
Doubling down at this position, the 49ers made the obvious decision to select the consensus top overall player in the 2019 NFL Draft, Nick Bosa. Seen as potentially a better prospect than his older brother, Joey, the Ohio State product should provide double-digit sacks in his rookie season.
The additions of Pro Bowlers Kwon Alexander and Jason Verrett could also fortify other areas of weakness. Though, both come with injury concerns.
The moral of the story here? San Francisco now has the talent in place on defense to be a top-16 unit in the NFL. Given what this team has on offense, and there’s no reason to believe it can’t contend for a playoff spot.
Anything less than nine wins and contention into December will lead to more questions about Lynch and Shanahan moving forward.
So while 2019 might not be a do-or-die season for San Francisco’s brass, it’s pretty darn close. Short of major improvements in the win-loss column, questions about their future in Northern California will get louder.
