The San Francisco 49ers finished the 2023 season with a 12-5 record and made it to the Super Bowl for the second time in 5 years. It was a very successful season as they finished top 3 in both offensive and defensive points per game, and aside from a 3 game hiccup in the middle of the season, and one bad game against Baltimore – this team played lights out for most of the year. They would go on to beat the Packers in the divisional round of the playoffs with a score of 24-21, and would proceed to beat the Lions in the NFC championship game with a score of 34-31 before losing to the Chiefs in the Super Bowl with a score of 25-22. It was a tough end to the year for the 49ers and their fan base as this franchise has – without a doubt – been one of the most successful teams over the past half decade and unfortunately have zero Super Bowl wins to show for it. They’ve been close time and time again – and they enter 2024 as one of the top teams to win it all. But as we know – no team in today’s era lasts forever. And with Brock Purdy entering year 3 – and a contract looming – I think is the San Francisco 49ers last chance with this current group of guys. We’ve seen several teams re tool and re load over the past few years – and it’ll be no different for San Francisco soon enough. But not before they have one last dance. But the question is – how far can they actually go this year? Well we’re going to break it down in today’s video.
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And we are starting today’s video by breaking down who the 49ers lost in free agency and who they brought in in free agency. We will of course get to the draft later – but the biggest loss this team suffered was defensive lineman Arik Armstead. Arik was a first round pick all the way back in 2015 and while Armstead isn’t an elite player by any means – the 49ers will feel his loss at times throughout the 2024 season and he will not be an easy guy to replace. He had over 40 pressures last year and had 5 sacks – and he was one of 4 49ers players to have over 40 pressures last year – and it’s always tough to see a long time veteran leave in free agency – but it’s a part of the game and the NFL is of course – a business. Now they also had Chase Young leave in free agency and I know Chase never really lived up to the number 2 player in the 2020 draft and expectations at times were incredibly unfair for him – but he was still a pretty solid pass rusher last year. He of course split time between Washington and San Francisco last year and had a career high in pressures with 66, and Chase won’t be an easy guy to replace either. And having to replace two guys along the defensive line in one offseason is tough – but the 49ers brought in veteran Leonard Floyd, Yetur Gross Matos, and Jordan Elliott to try and replace these guys. They also lost 2020 first round pick Javon Kinlaw in free agency to the Jets – and Javon had the best year of his career in 2023 – but again – not an irreplacable player by any means. And with normal teams – I would have concerns with how they’re going to replace guys but the 49ers have shown time and time again that they – more often than not – have things under control and will prove to be fine in the long run. And I think this proved to be especially true in Javon’s case as he was drafted to be the next Deforest Buckner – or to have the type of impact Buckner made – but in his 4 years in San Francisco – he had 70 total tackles and 5 sacks as a first round pick. San Francisco survived without Deforest as they went to 3 NFC championship games in 4 years, and they’ll be fine with the losses they suffered in free agency. They also lost backup quarterback Sam Darnold, Ray Ray McCloud went to the Falcons, and Clelin Ferrell went to the Commanders. Needless to say the 49ers needed to increase their depth after these losses. They weren’t too active in free agency from a big names standpoint and that should have been expected as there’s not a lot of money to go around with how star studded of a roster this is. Whenever you have guys like Nick Bosa, Deebo Samuel, Trent Williams, and Fred Warner to pay – and we’ll get to more on Trent later – there’s only so much money to go around. So I wasn’t shocked at all to see San Francisco’s biggest deal be a guy like Leonard Floyd and even Yetur Gross Matos. Now to be honest – I was a little surprised they gave Yetur Gross Matos a 2 year deal worth up to $18 million dollars. Gross Matos is an okay depth piece – and has 13 sacks in 4 years but he’s not a guy who can consistently get after the quarterback and I thought $9 million average annual value was incredibly rich for who he is as a player. Now I think Leonard Floyd will be an okay player for the 49ers – and Leonard will certainly have his moments – and he’ll probably have a game or two where he has 6 pressures 2 sacks and is in the defensive player of the week conversation – but he will be 32 when the season starts – and despite him having 9 or more sacks in each of the last 4 years – this may be surprising – but he only had 50 pressures or more in two of those seasons.
Leonard has had the best years of his career as a batman to another pass rusher – and it’ll be the same in San Francisco with Nick Bosa and Javon Hargrove each being more of a focus for the opposing offensive line. In terms of a landing spot – I don’t think there was a better situation for Leonard Floyd to enter at this point in his career. And when the 2024 season is over – assuming he plays at least 15 games of course – I would be surprised if he doesn’t finish the year with at least 8 or 9 sacks. He is a really good secondary pass rusher. I just don’t want the takeaway to be well he could have a 13 or 14 sack season and have 70 pressures when he’s never been that type of guy. He’ll be solid and you need solid players – but I don’t expect him to be truly dominant – which again is fine and he wasn’t paid to be that type of guy either. But a guy who was paid like that – was Nick Bosa and simply put – Bosa is a dominant pass rusher and he is absolutely a guy who can and in fact does – take over games. Bosa has been one of the best pass rushers in the league since being drafted number two overall out of Ohio State back in 2019 – and he has had at least 75 pressures in every season he’s played – minus the 2020 season of course when he went down with a torn ACL. And the 49ers defense was dominant last year and it’s a unit I expect to be very good again for a few reasons. Nick Bosa is a problem and he is a player teams gameplay away from because of how routinely he is in the backfield and how often he disrupts plays. But one of my favorite moves this team made over the past few years was when they went out and signed Javon Hargrave to a 4 year $84 million dollar contract during the 2023 offseason. Javon is now a 2 time pro bowler and aside from Justin Maduibuike – the Ravens defensive tackle who has really come into his own over the past few years – Javon Hargrave is another interior defensive lineman that’s a perfect example of taking some time to adjust to the NFL before becoming a truly dominant player. And anytime you have to game plan against a defensive player of the year award winning pass rusher in Bosa – and a pro bowl defensive tackle in Hargrave – good luck – because you’re going to need it. Oh and if that’s not enough – they have an inside linebacker in Fred Warner who is now a 3 time first team all pro – and it’s not an exaggeration to say – a guy who has played at a hall of fame level for the past 4 years. They of course – also have Dre Greenlaw who is expected to miss the first few games of the 2024 season as he tore his achilles in the Super Bowl against the Chiefs – but I do think this unit will more than be able to hold the fort down without him for the first few games. Greenlaw was playing really well in the Super Bowl before the injury and there are a lot of 49ers fans that believe if he doesn’t go down – then the 49ers would have won because Travis Kelce would not have been as impactful. But even without Dre for a few games – this unit will still be very good. And there will also be another former all pro returning in safety Talanoa Hunfunga who unfortunately tore his ACL in week 11 of the 2023 season.
And honestly to me I don’t think the 49ers secondary gets enough credit – because this team led the NFL in interceptions defensively last year. Now are – Charvarius Ward and Deommdore Lenoir the best duo in the league? Absolutely not, but they rarely put this team in positions to lose and that’s huge. Sure they’re going to give up a play here and there but every corner does. No corner goes an entire season without allowing a single reception in today’s era. But the 49ers also don’t need the best corners in the league when the rest of their defense is so good. And especially when the pass rush gets home as quick as they do. So as long as the 49ers corners are you know – not awful – and at least serviceable – they’re going to be fine. And I also really liked the addition of 3rd round corner Renardo Green who will only help this team down the stretch and provide valuable corner depth. All in all I think this defense is still going to be one of the best in the league and I don’t think there’s any reason to think they wouldn’t be. We often discuss complimentary football on the channel with a team being able to sustain long drives offensively to be able to keep the defense off the field and well rested – and the 49ers are the textbook example of this. They may not finish top 3 in points allowed per game like they did last year, but they’re going to be one of the best defenses in the entire league.
