Subscribe to John Lund Unleashed on You Tube! LIVE shows weekdays at 8 AM PT, Saturday at 10 AM and when news breaks!
The 2024 season for the San Francisco 49ers was one to forget. Hold outs, hold ins, personal tragedy, personal problems, injuries and just an overall feeling of gloom and doom filled the red and gold air. From Super Bowl dreams to nightmare season, the hope is San Francisco is owed one by the football Gods in 2025. Just like 2024 seemed snakebitten from the start, 2025 has started out with an optimistic tone for the 49ers.
This is why next season will be better:
- ROBERT SALEH IS OFFICIALLY BACK: Saleh, who ran the 49ers defense from 2017 to 2019, will be a major upgrade from rookie DC Nick Sorenson a year ago. Saleh is good, but he’s not a magician. They will need better health in 2025 with Dre Greenlaw, Nick Bosa, Talanoa Hufanga and others missing key time. Also, Greenlaw and Hufanga are free agents the team hopes to get back. Former Pro Bowl cornerback Charvarius Ward will not be back and defensive tackle Javon Hargrave will be a post June 1st cut and will likely not return. I’ve heard that Saleh’s presence makes it more likely Greenlaw returns, Hufanga could be priced out of the 49ers range. Saleh though has Fred Warner, Bosa, cornerback Deommodre Lenior, edge Leonard Floyd and two up and coming safeties in Ji’Ayir Brown and hard hitting Malik Mustapha. Second year cornerback Renardo Green showed promise as well as a rookie second round pick. The 49ers need interior defensive line help, but this a group Saleh can make a top unit again.
- THE EASIEST SCHEDULE IN THE NFL: As you can see below in the chart, a last place finish in the NFC West for 2024 has its privileges as in playing a last place schedule. The 49ers have the easiest schedule in the league in 2025 with an opponent winning percentage of just .415 and they only play three playoff teams from 2024, the Rams twice, Houston and Tampa Bay. Outside of the Rams, there are no playoff teams from 2024 coming to Levi’s Stadium, sorry season ticket holders.
- 2024 DRAFT PICKS WILL GET BETTER: After not having a first round pick in 2022 and 2023 the 49ers put together a solid draft class in 2024 highlighted by all-rookie guard Dominic Puni in the 3rd round. It’s not a stretch to think RIcky Pearsall will top his numbers of 31-400-3 in 2025 with an offseason in the program, a healthy training camp and no shooting to deal with. Second round pick Renardo Green was solid with a team high 13 passes defensed as a rookie. The first of the 49ers two 4th round picks, safety Malik Mustapha finished the season with 72 tackles, many of the highlight variety and had a big interception in Seattle. The 49ers other 4th round pick running back Isaac Guerendo finished as the team’s seond leader rusher with 420 yards and four touchdowns. Guerendo is a former receiver who is just scratching the surface of what he can be. He’s 6-foot and 220 pounds with 4.33 speed at the combine. He had a 99 and 85 yard day, including a 76-yarder at Seattle to seal the win where he went down to run the clock or he would have been over 100 yards on the day. Wide Receiver/Returner Jacob Cowing showed flashed with a 41-yard catch vs. Kansas City and he was the team’s leading punt returner, but at 171 pounds he needs an offseason to get stronger.
- 2025 DRAFT CAPITAL: Not only will the 49ers have their highest draft position since taking Trey Lance third overall in 2021, they are anticipating a few compensation picks which will all add up to some of the highest overall capital in the 2025 draft. This from NBC Sports Bay Area: The 49ers expect to have 10 selections in this year’s NFL draft, highlighted by the No. 11 overall pick, and the standout play of Minnesota Vikings quarterback Sam Darnold appears to mean the 49ers will receive another compensatory pick at the end of the fourth round. It should give the 49ers plenty of chances to add another strong draft class after getting major contributions from their rookies in 2024. “We’re really excited about this rookie class and that movement,” 49ers general manager John Lynch said after the regular season concluded. “We’ve got to continue to add to it. We think we’ll have 10 with a comp pick. We need to continue to add to it.” The 49ers’ 10 projected picks should include three compensatory selections based on net losses during free agency last year. The 49ers are expected to earn fourth-round compensatory picks at No. 137 and No. 138 for losing Darnold and defensive end Chase Young in free agency last year, per projections from OverTheCap.com. The 49ers are also in line for another seventh-round pick (No. 254) as compensation for losing receiver Ray-Ray McCloud. All of this adds up to a big opportunity for the 49ers to add talent and payroll flexibility to the roster through the 2025 NFL draft to stay in a championship window.
- THE OFFENSE RETURNS: Christian McCaffery has an entire offseason to rehab his Achilles issues. The Red Zone issues won’t be automatically fixed, but it’s the biggest reason why the 49ers couldn’t hit pay dirt enough in 2024. Brandon Aiyuk returns. The weirdest of the weird issues and the start of it all, Aiyuk will likely have a healthy knee and a healthy contract in 2025. In addition to CMC and Aiuyk, Trent Williams will likely be healthy. Also, Kyle Shanahan will have an official offensive coordinator, likely Klay Kubiak for the first time since Mike McDaniel left to coach the Miami Dolphins. I’ve been saying on the show Shanahan needs a voice he can trust to keep things fresh on that side of the ball. He’ll continue to call the plays.
- NOT SO SPECIAL TEAMS: I’m sure Brian Schneider is a nice guy and I’m told a good special teams coach. However, the 49ers were -63.8 in points in 2024, almost double the next worst special teams unit in the NFL. Even without that telling stat, if you just watched the games in 2024, you would have seen at least one momentum changing play per game which cost the 49ers. Schneider is gone and kicker Jake Moody, who ended the season as the NFL’s 31st ranked kicker of 32, will face real competition in training camp. Despite being a 3rd round pick, the team won’t compound the issue if Moody is the kicker he was in 2024. He needs a mental reset and he may have to go elsewhere to get back on track.
- ANTICIPATED IMPROVEMENTS: This is purely based on the sports Gods who don’t generally give you the type of season the 49ers endured in 2024 two years in a row. I’ve already mentioned at the top of this piece about hold outs, hold ins, injuries, personal issues and a general stench in the 2024 49ers season air. Those things tend to even out season to season. No science, no analytics, it’s just how sports goes, especially for an organization as solid as the 49ers.