So, another NFL season is upon us. For me, this is year nineteen, over here in the UK, putting my life and sleeping pattern on hold for four months to hopefully will the 49ers to that elusive (so far at least) sixth Super Bowl ring. There have been good and bad moments of course - try getting up at 1am to watch Chip Kelly's 49ers - but the last few years have had a feel all of their own. Thanks to John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan, the 49ers have mostly, barring a scarcely believable lost COVID season where people like Brian Allen (who?) suited up for the team, been contenders for the crown for most of the last four or five years.
If you believe some people, of course, that's coming to an end. If you had time to follow any discourse besides that about Brandon Aiyuk and Trent Williams this summer, then you probably wouldn't have gone too far without hearing the phrase 'The Last Dance' associated with the 49ers. This, of course, relates to the seminal Netflix documentary that it seemed like the whole world watched about the 1997/98 Chicago Bulls, with personalities like Michael Jordan, Dennis Rodman, and Phil Jackson all coming to their end with the team.
The implication of the phrase in relation to the 49ers is that the team that we've all loved and watched the Lynch/Shanahan axis build - George Kittle, Deebo Samuel, Nick Bosa, Brandon Aiyuk, et al - is coming to the end of its lifespan.
There's a very British word for that, but I'm not going to use it, because I've editorial restrictions to work within. However, this has become a peculiarly irritating part of sports discourse for quite a long time now - the desire to link everything happening now to something that happened before. A team seeking to zig while others zag is performing 'Moneyball'-esque maneuvers, while any team changing any part of its previously formed nucleus is said to be undergoing a 'Last Dance' - whether it's the head coach or the equipment manager moving on.
Not only is it pretty tiresome, but it rarely works out - witness the total collapse of the previously galactic Golden State Warriors last season before the expected (and now confirmed) departure of Klay Thompson, or the petering out of Liverpool's Premier League season after it was previously thought they could get legendary manager Jurgen Klopp to go out on a high.
In the 49ers case, though, it actually couldn't be further from the truth, and here's why.
While there was reason to be anxious as the time ticked down on getting both Aiyuk and Williams' contracts sorted out, both are now back in the fold and likely to be around for the foreseeable future. It's a little hard to understand why there was such psychodrama around the whole thing given the 49ers propensity under the management of Lynch for taking most deals to the deadline - Nick Bosa, for instance, may as well have shown up with his pads in Pittsburgh, so late was that deal done last season.
Anyway, however it got done, it got done - Aiyuk has signed a long-term deal, and given that Brock Purdy will also likely commit his future to the team next offseason, Christian McCaffrey has committed for the long term, Deebo Samuel's recent restructure likely keeps him around for two to three more years, and Jauan Jennings had his own contract situation sorted out, the building blocks of a great Shanahan offense will remain in place for at least the next few years. Williams is perhaps more of a mystery as he could feasibly retire at any time, although the two years of big money recently guaranteed to him probably mean that he will be here past the time a new President is sworn in to the White House.
Defensively, things are a little more in flux, particularly given the situations of Charvarius Ward, Deommodore Lenoir, and Dre Greenlaw, among others. However, the undoubted star Nick Bosa is signed for the long term, while Fred Warner will continue to lead the linebacking core for at least a few more seasons, while solid veterans fill out the team.
All in all, it's not quite as dire as it would seem to some on the outside, so why does the conversation happen? Simply enough, the DeForest Buckner trade of now several years ago seems to have left some following the 49ers with undiagnosed trade PTSD, as the fanbase almost talks itself into a rebuild (or dare I say, 'reload') being just around the corner every year. stoked by certain beat writers whose stock in trade is suggesting that the 49ers trade every big name under the sun every offseason.
The thing is, Buckner aside (which was a shock, and didn't work, which is possibly why it's never been attempted again), this never really happens, including this offseason. While fan favorite Arik Armstead did depart, the team did at least try to retain him. Frankly, given his injury woes, the 49ers were possibly more accommodating to him than they needed to be. Without spending too long on it, its hard to think of another player the 49ers let get away who they would've desperately wanted to keep.
The model is the same as it's always been - keep the A+ players, try and keep the A's, and set a limit on the Bs and lower. Someone wants to pay Laken Tomlinson way too much money to be a mediocre guard? Let them. You've had a productive year from Arden Key or Charles Omenihu and a team steps in with a multi-year deal? Bank the compensatory picks and move on, hopefully reloading the team with some cheaper young talent, and possibly unearthing an ace in the process.
What is key to this strategy is that the team's scouts and draftniks continue to hit on putting young talent into the pipeline, particularly in the later rounds, and while some drafts are better than others, the 49ers have proven adept at this. The early returns on the likes of Lenoir, Aaron Banks, Talanoa Hufanga, and Ji'Ayir Brown among others, have kept the team competitive, while this year's rookie class also looks like it could heal some sores in Santa Clara, given the buzz around the likes of Renardo Green, Jacob Cowing and Malik Mustapha.
So no - this isn't 'The Last Dance' for this 49er team. Some are getting older, of course, although the much trotted out 'oldest team' stat is massively skewed by the fact Trent Williams is a freak, still playing at an All-Pro level at 36. Players do, and will, come and go, but 49ers fans must also remember that this is a team that's weathered the loss of Bill Walsh, Joe Montana, Jerry Rice, Ronnie Lott, and countless others, and, when the conditions are right, managed to keep competing.
With a head coach like Kyle Shanahan, who has turned players as mediocre as Jimmy Garoppolo into All-Pro adjacent level talent (at times anyway!), the conditions will be right for the 49ers to keep moving forward. The dance might change, the steps may be different, it may look different, and you may have some different partners at times, but this 49ers roster is a long, long way from 'The Last Dance' just yet, and the future seems pretty bright too.
The one thing that might have an echo of The Last Dance, though? Championship rings at the end of the season.
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