Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports
How do you think the San Francisco 49ers offseason has gone from a personnel perspective?
The team lost a few veteran leaders in defensive tackle DeForest Buckner, wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders, and offensive tackle Joe Staley. The first was traded away, so it wasn't the player's decision to leave. The second opted to sign with the New Orleans Saints in free agency. The third retired.
For any other team, these losses might have been significant. But the 49ers own a deep roster, an embarrassment of riches at certain positions. That helped the Kyle Shanahan-led squad reach the Super Bowl in year three of a massive roster overhaul.
As for the losses themselves, Shanahan and general manager John Lynch worked diligently to fill the voids. With the first two, they looked to the draft, using first-round picks to select defensive tackle
Javon Kinlaw and wide receiver
Brandon Aiyuk. The team found a replacement for its retired Pro Bowl offensive tackle by trading for another Pro Bowl offensive tackle in
Trent Williams.
So, how do you think the offseason has gone? On paper, at least, the 49ers are in a position to at least be as good as last season. Of course, you never know in the NFL. Games aren't won on paper. Nor are they won in June.
CBS Sports was reasonably impressed with the 49ers' efforts this offseason. Writer Josh Edwards
ranked San Francisco as having the fourth-best offseason among the 32 NFL teams. He placed the Niners behind only the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (any team landing Tom Brady would have catapulted to No. 1 in the media's opinion), Arizona Cardinals, and Baltimore Ravens.
The Cardinals' position at No. 2 on the list has to do with the 49ers' division rival swindling the Houston Texans in a trade that landed wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins, and a perceived strong draft.
As for the 49ers, they rank so high because the team retained some of its own talent in defensive lineman
Arik Armstead and safety
Jimmie Ward, re-signing both to multi-year deals.
"Those moves made them realize that defensive tackle DeForest Buckner was a luxury," wrote Edwards, "so they shipped him to Indianapolis in exchange for a first-round pick. They made a series of budget signings to sustain a Super Bowl-caliber roster."
Add to that the previously mentioned acquisitions of Kinlaw, Aiyuk, and Williams, and you have the reason why San Francisco ranks above 28 other teams.
Edwards wonders, though, "Will this offseason's moves be enough to get Kyle Shanahan's team over the hump?"
We won't know the answer to that until February.
San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle didn't make the trip to MetLife Stadium with his teammates for this past weekend's game against the New York Jets. He arrived at The Greenbrier in West Virginia — where the team is staying and practicing this week between its two East Coast games — late on Sunday night.
Kittle did watch the Week 2 action, though. Well, part of it, at least. At one point, once the injuries started mounting, Kittle had to stop.
"I was actually doing some rehabbing when I was watching the game," Kittle shared with reporters on Thursday. "I watched the first quarter, and then I saw two injuries, and then I went outside and did my workout."
Those injuries were to defensive linemen Nick Bosa and Solomon Thomas. Both
Whenever running back Frank Gore plans to call it a career, he plans to do so as a member of the San Francisco 49ers. That will likely come on a one-day ceremonial deal so that he can retire with the team that drafted him 15 years ago.
To anyone who follows the 49ers, they already knew this. What Gore, the team's all-time leading rusher, told NBC Sports Bay Area this week is that he's already had a discussion with 49ers CEO Jed York about the plans, and the two sides agreed to make sure it happens.
"We talked about that," Gore said. "I got to. That's the team that gave me the opportunity to do something I always wanted to do when I
The San Francisco 49ers typically fly out of San Jose International Airport for road games and were set to do so for this two-game stint on the East Coast. Their plans changed, however, when the plane was found to be damaged, forcing the entire team to travel north and leave out of San Francisco International Airport, according to an on-air report by FOX.
The 49ers plan to stay on the East Coast between their two games at MetLife Stadium. The team has a comfortable lead late in the fourth quarter against the New York Jets and will return to play the New York Giants in one week.
The team will stay and practice at The Greenbrier in West Virginia this week.
Despite likely departing with a win, the 49ers have to be concerned after several players
