Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
49ers missing from this 2022 season playoff prediction
May 11, 2022 at 8:16 AM
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The San Francisco 49ers should be pretty good in 2022, right? Yes, they are entering the upcoming season with a second-year starting quarterback who played just 178 snaps last season, and the interior of the offensive line is uncertain, but the rest of the core remains.
San Francisco has been a playoff participant in two of the last three seasons, with an injury-plagued 2020 campaign being the exception. There is still star power with names like
George Kittle,
Trent Williams,
Nick Bosa,
Fred Warner, and, hopefully,
Deebo Samuel.
Winning the NFC West over the favored defending Super Bowl champion Los Angeles Rams may be an uphill battle, but surely they will participate in postseason play, right?
Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports doesn't believe so. He
predicted the 14 teams to make the playoffs following the 2022 regular season, and the 49ers are noticeably absent. And it sounds like his reasoning has everything to do with Lance.
"If the 49ers rode Jimmy G, I'd go their way," explained La Canfora, "but it's Lance time and I have trepidation about that learning curve in what amounts to Year One."
Instead, La Canfora has the Rams and Arizona Cardinals emerging as playoff teams out of the NFC West, admitting that it was a coin flip for him between the Cardinals, 49ers, and Dallas Cowboys when it comes to a Wild Card spot.
La Canfora adds, "Arizona is probably good enough for 9 wins so I'll lean in that direction."
That likely means the longtime NFL reporter doesn't envision Kyle Shanahan's squad earning at least that many wins with Lance at the helm of the offense, despite the team coming off an NFC title appearance.
What are your thoughts on this prediction? Leave a comment below.
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49ers to report for 2022 training camp on July 26
The NFL announced training camp reporting dates. San Francisco 49ers players—both rookies and veterans—will report to the SAP Performance Facility in Santa Clara, California, on July 26.
The 49ers concluded their offseason program on June 8 with a two-day mandatory minicamp. The third day was canceled and replaced with a family day for players, coaches, and staff. Players are on a break until the start of training camp.
Below are the reporting locations and dates for every NFL team.
Team
Site
Location
Rookies
Veterans
Arizona
State Farm
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Last week, ESPN analyst Rob Ninkovich looked at the 2021 rookie quarterback class and stated he expects Trey Lance to make the "biggest jump" in Year 2. Another ESPN analyst, Sam Acho, agrees with that prediction.
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"Yes, there was a reason Zach Wilson was the second pick overall last year," Acho said. "There's a reason Trey Lance was third, right? Because he's that good as well."
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The days surrounding July 4th are more often than not one of the slowest times of the year for NFL content, which makes it an opportune time to shamelessly borrow another site's good idea.
With that in mind, let's build off a feature that was published earlier today by NFL.com that selected one player from each team that could be in line for their first Pro Bowl appearance in 2022.
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