NFL.com analyst Elliot Harrison is already looking past next week's draft and toward the 2018 regular season. He revealed his top 18 must-see matchups of the upcoming regular season and one San Francisco 49ers game was on the list.
Was it 49ers versus Rams? No. Harrison excluded division games from his list. "After all, we see them every year," he wrote.
The 49ers game that made the list was the regular season matchup against their Bay Area rival, the Oakland Raiders, who will be departing for Las Vegas soon – so we might as well enjoy what will be the final regular-season matchup between the two teams while both reside in the same region.
Harrison wrote the following about the game, which will be played at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara:
"Jimmy Garoppolo shoulders the expectations (and burden) of the 49ers faithful this season. Which is not too dissimilar from what Derek Carr experienced last season, after a prolific 2016 campaign. If Jimmy G's winning streak is to continue -- or rather, be halted -- Oakland's secondary must step up. The unit was bad last season. The Raiders allowed opposing QBs to rack up a 101.8 passer rating. At least they made up for it by not picking off passes -- Oakland was dead last with five interceptions. Jon Gruden's AFC West hopes will be D.O.A if that isn't fixed. Maybe Shareece Wright, Marcus Gilchrist, Leon Hall and Rashaan Melvin will help. They're not exactly John, Paul, George and Ringo."
The 49ers and Raiders have not met during the regular season since December 7, 2014 – a game San Francisco lost 24-13 at the Oakland Alameda Coliseum.
The Raiders departure from the Bay Area will leave the 49ers as the only football team in the market. The move could happen as soon as 2019 with the Raiders possibly playing at Sam Boyd Stadium, which serves as the home of the UNLV Rebels football team. The Raiders' new $1.8 billion stadium, which will sit just west of the Las Vegas Strip and Interstate 15, is expected to be completed in time for the 2020 season.
The 49ers will not play the Raiders again during the regular season until 2022 following this year's matchup.