The San Francisco 49ers have been one of the most successful NFL teams over the past four years, building extensively through the draft en route to reaching three NFC Championships during that span.
However, the 49ers have dealt with issues at the sport's most important position: quarterback, which has led to some of their shortcomings, and why some may not be as high on the organization, given the uncertainty San Francisco faces heading into 2023.
Ranking the best rosters in the NFL, ESPN's Seth Walder and Mike Clay recently placed the 49ers at No. 8, despite their recent success, with the Kansas City Chiefs, Philadelphia Eagles, Buffalo Bills, Miami Dolphins, Cincinnati Bengals, Dallas Cowboys, and Los Angeles Chargers at the first seven spots.
At first glance, that might be lower than expected, given the blue-chip talent and top players that the 49ers have, but Walder went on KNBR's Papa and Lund Podcast to justify his ranking, pointing out the 49ers' fallacies at quarterback.
"The seven teams in front of them all have franchise guys [at quarterback]," Walder said. "If Trey Lance makes it tough on them, that's a really great problem to have. We don't have evidence that that's going to happen, and I don't think that we have a lot of evidence that that should happen. I was impressed by what we got out of [Brock] Purdy, but we're still talking about a limited sample on a seventh-round pick."
In addition, Walder pointed out the team's offensive line outside of Trent Williams as a potential reason for concern, although the 49ers have been able to withstand some of those issues with head coach Kyle Shanahan's offensive system.
"I think offensive line to me in the non-Trent Williams division is a question mark," Walder said. "I think if you look at some of the numbers that we've got some weaknesses. The kind of system the 49ers run might be able to mitigate that with play-action, motion, roll outs, things like that. But to me, that would be another potential weakness."
Walder's comments come after fellow ESPN analyst Louis Riddick recently predicted the Seahawks to win the NFC West in 2023 over the 49ers, citing the team's quarterback issues as well.
"I love Kyle Shanahan as much as anybody, but [...] we don't know who the quarterback's going to be for them," Riddick said on The Rich Eisen Show. "And we don't know how it's going to work out. People still believe no matter what Geno Smith did last year, it's like 'well it's Geno Smith. A broken clock can be right twice a day. He just got lucky last year, it just worked out for him.' They don't believe!"
With recent comments by national analysts, are the 49ers underrated heading into 2023? While they're predicted as the second-highest NFC team to win the Super Bowl, their quarterback situation is one to monitor, and could likely dictate how their season goes along.