2025 San Francisco 49ers

[footballenthusiast]

The 2025 San Francisco 49ers are trending towards a very positive direction. This year's team features 10 White starters and 21 White players on the roster in total. The 2024 49ers featured 7 White starters and 16 White players on the roster in total. 3 additional starters and 5 additional players as a whole is definitely a big improvement because now almost half of the team's starters are White and White players comprise more than a third of the roster.

Most of the offensive starters from last year are returning, including the often-doubted but highly productive QB Brock Purdy, superstar RB Christian McCaffrey, criminally underrated FB Kyle Juszczyk, and probable future hall-of-fame TE George Kittle. These forces combined to power the 49ers to a Super Bowl appearance in 2023 but failed to secure a victory. In 2024, Purdy took a step back statistically and McCaffrey was sidelined due to injury. Those setbacks combined with the defense regressing from 3rd to 29th in points allowed led to an abysmal 6-11 record. This year Kittle was placed on IR and won't be eligible to return until week 6. Getting every part of the team to enter the zone and peak simultaneously is an astronomical task, but it also comes with astronomical rewards. Thankfully this year's 49ers have three new starters to help them return to the stars.

The new additions to the starting offensive unit are WR Ricky Pearsall and rookie LG Connor Colby. Pearsall dealt with injuries and survived being shot in the chest last year but not even these calamities could stop this athletic marvel from becoming a starter. Pearsall boasts a historically great 9.91 RAS, which includes elite composite explosion and agility grades. This score ranked 31st out of 3,402 receivers from 1987 to 2024. Like Pearsall, Colby is another White athlete with a historically great RAS. His score of 9.66 ranks 55th out of 1,583 offensive guards from 1987 to 2025. With these two starting, the 49ers offense is now up to 8 White starters. This number recalls the glory days of those 2010s Patriots offenses that were such a joy to watch.

On defense there are just 2 White starters, but that is still an increase from last year's 1 man show. DE Nick Bosa returns and looks to recapture the magic of his stellar 2022 season, which saw him record 18.5 sacks and win Defensive Player of the Year. He even garnered a few MVP votes. He took a noticeable step back statistically in 2023 and in 2024 he struggled with hip injuries which caused him to miss 3 games. Joining Bosa on defense is the newly-acquired LB Luke Gifford. He went undrafted out of Nebraska in 2019 despite boasting a historically elite 9.39 RAS and since then has bounced around a few practice squads and special teams units. Injuries forced the Tennessee Titans to promote him to a starting role near the end of the 2024 season. Gifford started 4 games and in those games he produced very well, recording 35 total tackles (21 solo), 1 tackle for a loss, and 2 passes defended. He even intercepted an errant pass from Joe Burrow in Week 15. The Titans foolishly let him try his hand at free agency and the 49ers quickly picked him up on a 1-year deal earlier this year. It should go without saying, but look out for this guy.

It's safe to say that the 2025 San Francisco 49ers are a team to root for. The question is, will they be able to find their footing after taking that massive step back in 2024? If the offensive stars stay healthy and productive and if the defense can rebound, there's no telling what the future holds for this bright team.

Offense:
QB - Brock Purdy , Mac Jones, Kurtis Rourke
RB - Christian McCaffrey
FB - Kyle Juszczyk
WR - Ricky Pearsall, Trent Taylor (IR)
TE - Jake Tonges, Luke Farrell, George Kittle (IR)
LG - Connor Colby, Ben Bartch (IR)
C - Jake Brendel, Matt Hennessy
RG - Drew Moss
RT - Colton McKivitz, Austen Pleasants

Defense:
RDE - Nick Bosa
SLB - Luke Gifford

Special Teams:
P - Thomas Morstead
LS - Jon Weeks

Injured Reserve:
WR - Trent Taylor
LG - Ben Bartch
TE - George Kittle

Practice Squad:
C - Drake Nugent
OT - Nick Zakelj
OT - Kilian Zierer

Number of White Starters: 10
Total Number of White players: 21
Grade: C

 

[Don Wassall]

Great write-up, once again the San Fran offense brings back fond memories of the dynastic Patriots!

I'd like to see Gifford get more snaps however. He had none last week at SLB and just 44% the week before. I know some places list him as a starter but Fred Warner and Dee Winters have been gobbling most of the linebacker snaps thus far.

 

[footballenthusiast]

Great write-up, once again the San Fran offense brings back fond memories of the dynastic Patriots!

I'd like to see Gifford get more snaps however. He had none last week at SLB and just 44% the week before. I know some places list him as a starter but Fred Warner and Dee Winters have been gobbling most of the linebacker snaps thus far.

Thanks for the info on Gifford. It appears that he's a starter in their base 4-3 defense but in packages with less than 3 LBs he gets taken out in favor of Warner and Winters, who are the starting MLB and WLB respectively. I checked the 49ers' snap counts and judging by the numbers, those are the only two LBs in on most plays thus far. In two games the 49ers have hardly used their base defense. That's the funny thing about base defenses these days, most teams hardly even use them enough to warrant being called "base defenses".

 

[Don Wassall]

Yes, and some of those depth charts list 12 defensive starters, so looks like Gifford is the odd man out on many plays. But it's a long season so we'll see how it plays out for him. Like so many unheralded White linebackers he almost always produces when he gets an opportunity. Also, it was unexpected when Winters won a starting job in training camp. He was a sixth round draft choice in '23 so his hold on the job isn't all that secure. Warner on the other hand is one of the best in the league.